Dying To Live
by wecouldbelong
Summary: I woke up with my head pounding, fever high, and sweaty palms, only to look down and see some sort of...bite mark on my forearm. Rick/OC, tiny AU. Back after long hiatus! Chapter 25 Added! :)
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own The Walking Dead, just Isabelle. :)_

_Reviews are welcome and greatly appreciated~_

_edit: Decided to add dates to the story, it'll make sense later.  
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><p><strong>September 9, 2010<strong>

Fuck.

This was honestly the last thing I needed, a god damn gun pointed to the back of my head. Seriously? I'm just trying to get by, trying to survive this hell. But no, I can never catch a break.

I'm sure you're wondering how I ended up here, which is funny because I'm not even from Atlanta. I was born and raised in California, and I just graduated from college and just finished with basic. I was given a short break before being shipped off to god knows where, and decided to spend said break with a good friend of mine here.

As for why she's not here with me right now? I don't want to talk about it, I can't. Not yet.

"Who are you?" A raspy, southern voice questioned me, I only assumed it was a police officer, considering the fact that I was in an "abandoned" police station and he hadn't shot me yet. I swear to god I thought this fucking place was empty.

"I'm sorry o-officer," I managed to sputter out, "I'm on my own," the barrel of his shotgun didn't feel as pressed to the back of my head as before, "and I was looking for weapons, to get by."

A large sigh of relief escaped my lips as I felt the cool air strike the back of my head, indicating that he'd put his gun down and no longer found me as a threat. However, I still didn't have the nerve to turn around and face him, nor speak anymore unless spoken to, so I kept my lips pressed together in a thin line.

I shifted uncomfortably, I'd been on my knees and my legs had been going numb; but I still couldn't get them to move.

After a seemingly long pause, he spoke to me again, "You never answered my question."

I put my arms down and let them fall to my sides, but I didn't turn around to face him. "I'm just someone who's trying to survive, just like everyone else." The cold, rough surface of the floor was starting to make my knees ache but I didn't say anything since I didn't want to come off as a whiny bitch. "Officer, I'm _really_ not a threat."

Another pregnant pause, which frustrated the hell out of me. Was he going to shoot me or not? Who the hell does he think he is playing with me like this?

With the ache in my knees, my frustration grew more as he remained quiet, "if you're going to shoot me, just do it." I gritted through my teeth.

I heard him step back, or maybe forward. It was hard to tell, seeing as I wasn't facing him.

At last! He finally spoke! "I'm not going to hurt you, just get up and answer my questions."

I did as I was told and turned around to face him, when he held out his hand.

"You don't have to call me 'officer' anymore, just call me Rick. What's your name?"

Damn. For a guy who was about to paint the wall with my brains, Rick wasn't that bad looking.

Shit he's waiting for a response, think of something, dumbass!

"Err..my name i-is.." Why couldn't I respond? It was as if I completely forgot my own god damn name. I cleared my throat to regain my composure, "Isabelle. My names Isabelle." For some reason I repeated to myself.

"What brings you out here, Isabelle?"

"Umm..l'm just visiting for vacation-"

He smiled, "And you come to Georgia for a vacation?"

I couldn't help but smile back, his smile reminded me of hope for some reason. "Not really my choice, heh," My smile quickly faded when I remembered why I was here, "I'm here to visit a friend." I told him while breaking off eye contact. I really hoped he'd take the hint and not ask me about her.

He stood up and pulled out a set of keys, which I assumed would be for the armory. "So you were trying to pick this lock?"

I rubbed the back of my head like a child getting caught stealing candy or cookies, "Yeah, turns out you need a weapon to survive those things out there."

"Well, Isabelle, it's all been cleared out already."

Well shit.

With a smug grin on his face that I could just eat up, he presented me with a black duffle bag.

For Christ's sakes how could I have been so damn oblivious? He's a sheriff, of course he'd have all the weapons in the armory. I mentally face palmed myself for my ignorance, and continued to eye the duffle bag.

"Where are you headed to?" He asked me.

I leaned my head back to hit the locker behind me, I'm not good with these types of questions. Why couldn't he just be like "I like you" and join me? Noooooo, it's never easy.

"I was originally going to go to California to get to my family. But, they evacuated. They're safe now, so now I don't know," I shrugged, "Maybe try to find an evacuation out here, but I don't know." I straightened myself out more and turned to Rick, "What about you? Any family? Wife or kids?"

"Nope. Still a single man in his 30s," he chuckled to himself. How anyone was so...optimistic was beyond me. "Probably going to look for my sister and get ourselves evacuated. Same plan as you."

Maybe he could travel with m-

"Why don't we travel together?" Word vomit. Fuck, now he probably thinks I'm some creep who is all creepy and freaky and we-

"Sure, I mean you managed to sneak in here without me knowing or leading any walkers here." Ah, so that's what he called them too.

Wait. He just accepted my travel request. Or whatever you wanna call it.

For some reason, I couldn't wipe the stupid grin off my face. I've been alone for some time and...well it was a lot to take in.

And it was definitely going to take some getting used to.

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><p>A couple hours had passed since our interesting first encounter, and we hadn't said much to each other. Instead, I took a short nap, which he didn't mind.<p>

We were set to leave in a little bit, since neither of us wanted to stay there any longer. I promised him that I'd tell him more about myself once I'd taken a hot shower and gathered all of my supplies.

He led me to the showers and as soon as he left I stripped down and never had I felt so...dirty. I was more than eager to wash my body of the dirt and caked blood. Ahhh, how good it felt to have the hot water hug my body.

I then remembered something.

I packed a razor.

I quickly jumped out of the shower and snatched my bag to dig through it and retrieve my razor, I don't think I've ever been that excited. There's just something about shaving that makes me happy, makes me feel more feminine. I stored a mental note to be on the lookout for any other clean razors in the police station.

After my little me time, I hurried out of the shower to get dressed in a new clean set of clothes that I was smart enough to pack, but then I realized that they'll probably get as dirty as the last ones, but at least there wasn't any caked blood, right?

I walked over to the mirrors in the women's restroom, and observed the face that stared back at me. I looked a little gaunt, but I still looked the same. I still had my recognizable features: my big, almond shaped light brown eyes; my long, thin nose; high cheekbones; and full lips. I usually hate my face to be honest, since it never gotten me to be taken seriously, I was either some "dumb broad" or "too girly/pretty/incompetent" to join the army. But today, I liked my face. I really needed sleep though, and to cut my hair. I mean it's already short because I cannot _stand_ having long hair.

Huh, I wonder if Rick thought I was some boy at first. Bet he was real surprised when I turned around.

Okay, now I'm just being cocky.

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><p><em>First Walking Dead story, let me know what you guys think so far :)<em>

_Also, there may be some inaccuracies in the story, if you see any, please let me know in a message. Just a reminder: this story will be somewhat AU as in following the main story but making some slight changes. _

_Note: when Isabelle says basic, she means basic training for the Army._


	2. Chapter 2

_Shout out to those who added my story to their alerts! Thanks :)It really means a lot to me~_

_Nurseratchet: I try to update as much as possible, but since you asked so nicely:_

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><p>I joined Rick for a cup of coffee after my shower and moment of self-centeredness. There wasn't much to say, really. Although, it would have been nice to talk, I just couldn't think of anything to say.<p>

The silence really got to me though, so I decided to play twenty questions with him instead, "Tell me your story, Rick. Where were you when the outbreak hit?"

He didn't say much, in fact he didn't even reply. He just kept cleaning his gun as if he didn't even hear my question, so I didn't ask again.

"I woke up in a hospital," he began, "I was in a coma for some time." I almost envied the fact that he didn't have to go through the first month of the outbreak.

"Why were you in the hospital?" Word vomit, damn it Isabelle just let him tell the story.

"I was shot in the line of duty."

"Oh." I mean, what else was I supposed to say? "...what happened when you woke up?"

"The door to my room was barricaded," he started to rub at his chest, where I assumed he was shot, "I made my way to the hallway and the doors were barricaded too, something about dead inside."

Yikes.

"I made my way home, I saw this..._thing_ in the grass. Half her body was missing and she just kept crawling towards me," I almost wanted to interrupt him and ask if he recognized the girl, but I let him continue and I really doubted he would've been comfortable with it.

"I wasn't too surprised that my place had been broken into, I mean the whole neighborhood was basically up in flames. So I left to see if I can find anyone else. I was going around the neighborhood and last thing I remember was getting hit over the head by some kid..."

"Some kid? Just walking around?" Well, he'd get to it if you stopped interrupting, Isabelle!

"Yeah. He must've mistook me for one of those walkers, and I woke up tied to a bed."

I felt like a little kid, seriously, since I was leaning forward with my eyes wide open. I don't know why either.

"The father, Morgan, was checking me for bites. Him and his son Duane eventually apologized for whacking me upside the head. They told me their story just like how I'm telling you mine. We both had the same goals, so I brought both of them here and we raided the armory."

"Where are they now?" I could tell that other people were here recently, since I saw some men's clothes near the showers, but I'm pretty sure Rick is the only other person (alive at least) here besides me.

"We parted ways,Morgan had...things to attend to and I'm looking for my sister. I gave him some of my guns and he took abandoned truck and left." He leaned back in his seat to put his gun back together, so I assumed that he'd said all that he wanted to say, I definitely could tell there was more to the story, but it wasn't my right to butt in to his business. I thought the conversation was over and we were going to get ready to leave. That is, until he asked me the same thing.

I'll admit, I was caught off guard. I thought I already hinted that my story wasn't something I wanted to talk about.

I tried my best to not look at him and try to...I don't know, distract him? I didn't want to come off as rude, but I really couldn't bring myself to even remember my story. I started to get really nervous, my palms were becoming sweaty and I started shaking. My breaths became shallow and my heart was pounding.

Am I having a panic attack? Why was my body responding like this to such a simple question? I honestly...don't remember much of my story. Maybe that's why I didn't want to talk about it. I remember the worst obviously, but something else must've happened for me to react this way...

Rick interrupted my thoughts by leaning forward and putting his hand on my shoulder, as if to shake me back to reality. I felt sick to my stomach still, and I still couldn't look at him. "You don't have to talk about it, Isabelle." He assured me.

I gave brief eye contact and tried my best to give a smile, it was a pathetic smile, but it was enough for him to back off from the subject.

"I'm gonna go get my things so we can leave." I said sternly as I brushed his hand off my shoulder. I don't know what the hell happened back there, but I really want to make sure it doesn't happen again. Last thing I want is Rick thinking something's wrong with me and him changing his mind about letting me go with him. I _know_ I wouldn't make it on my own.

I made my way to the locker room to make sure I had all my belongings. Extra clothes. Check. First aid kit. Check. Food. None, well that's awesome, at least I have some water. Let's see what else I have...pain pills, dirty clothes that I need to wash later, some soap and shampoo, and a pack of cigarettes with a lighter inside...

I know what you're thinking, "oh you shouldn't smoke!", well this isn't my bag. I didn't pack it. Jane did. Don't worry about who she is, your time will come where you'll learn my story. Just wait.

I fumbled with the pack of cigarettes, curious as to how people could stand to smoke these things. I pulled one cigarette out and rolled it between my fingers, an odd habit of mine when I get nervous. I felt like I was forgetting something, and there was no way in hell I or Rick would want to come back if I left something. I'd already made myself look unstable...

Perhaps I could leave a note to keep my mind off things, in case someone were to happen upon this abandoned place. I tried my best to stay quiet to rummage through the lockers, hoping to find some paper and a pen, hell even find more supplies.

First couple of lockers were...well locked, and the ones that were unlocked only had badges and uniforms. I'm pretty sure Rick had already gone through these then..

I finally found a notepad and some pens and sat down to start writing a note, unsure of what to say. So I just scribbled some stuff:

_No guns or food left, by the time you get this the generator will probably be dead. I'm sorry._

_Good luck_

I erased the "I'm sorry" part numerous times, was I supposed to feel sorry? Rick and I need to survive too, which is why he took all the guns. Or am I apologizing for the fact that they have to live in this world?

I wasn't in the mood to think too much so I just kept it there and attached the note to a bench. I silently hoped to myself that no one would stumble upon it, simply because sooner or later this place will be crawling with walkers. Which reminded me that I should be getting my shit and leaving.

I went around the locker room once more to make sure I hadn't left anything behind, then checked my bag one last time. God damn my OCD.

I just realized I didn't have a weapon. I should probably get one from Rick, if he even trusts me with one.

Speaking of Rick, he was standing in the doorway staring at me.

"Hey, I'm almost ready to go. I just realized I needed something..." He probably thinks I'm so childish for wasting so much time.

Rick must've read my mind about the guns or something, since he reached into the duffle bag and handed me a handgun. I smiled in response, "Thanks." I felt awkward.

He looked as uncomfortable as I did, "You okay, Isabelle?" Hearing him say my name was quite comforting for some reason.

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

I could tell he didn't want to say it, but I couldn't blame him really. I would want to make sure the person I'm surviving with was mentally stable and wouldn't break down and try to kill me or even eat m-

"I'm just checking with ya." He gave me his million dollar smile and reached his hand out to help me get up off the ground. Him being a southern gentleman will _never_ get old to me.

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><p>We were fortunate that there weren't any walkers in the vicinity, which was almost scary. Not that I was complaining, since I made my way here and have been surviving before without a weapon. It was nice for it to be finally quiet, but this was a little suspicious.<p>

I heard some footsteps behind a metal fence, so I quickly ducked and turned around to give Rick, who was across the parking lot, a "shh!" sound. He may be a sheriff, but I have more experience with the walkers than him.

I pulled the handgun out and walked slowly to the gate, making sure not to many any more noise. I know I was trained in basic to keep a cool head in tense situations, but that didn't mean it was easy.

As soon as I stepped forward, a walked grabbed my legs and threw me off balance, knocking me down and the gun out of my hands. I turned on my stomach to try to reach my gun, but it was a good ten feet or so away from me. I could hear the walker gurgle behind me, but I had to tune it out.

Fuck fuck fuck. And I didn't want Rick shooting it, I didn't want to risk anymore walkers hearing the gunshot.

I heard him cock his gun and out of the corner of my eye I saw him about to shoot, "Don't shoot!" I pleaded desperately, only for the walker to growl and hiss at me while reaching for my ankles.

I kicked it in the face multiple times to shut it up, and then got off my ass to get my gun. I couldn't wait to finish that fucking walker. I turned only to see Rick shoot it in the head, with its brains splattering out the back of its head and on to the sidewalk. If this were happening a month ago, I would've cringed but seeing the dead walk and feast on the living desensitized you to these type of things.

I kicked the limp body to make sure the damn thing was dead. Since it stopped moving, I reached into its pockets and pulled out the wallet, a habit I developed. I'd always been curious as to who they were before they became this way. It was odd, I liked learning abut other peoples stories but I couldn't even share my own. Pathetic.

After my breathing returned to normal, Rick ran to me all wide eyed and shocked. He must be new to killing these things since he acted as if he killed a man, which, I mean he did, but this was an undead man. You couldn't see them as human anymore, but as walkers. You had to hate them, you had to have the desire to kill them, because sympathizing was the quickest way to get you killed.

He grabbed both my shoulders and looked me in the eyes, "Christ Isabelle that was too close! Are you okay? Did you get bit?"

With him this close, I never realized until now how bright his eyes were, as if there were still a glimmer of hope left in this world.

With me staring into his eyes, I didn't know what to say, I was so dumbfounded, "You took my kill!" was all that I could think of. Did I mention that I'm competitive?

I got a genuine laugh in response, it was nice.

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><p>Rick asked if it would be okay to go to his sister's neighborhood to see if there were any signs of where they were headed to. I was fine with it, of course, it wasn't going to deny a guy from finding his sister.<p>

The neighborhood was empty and so dead. Just a depressing scene really, cars broken into in the streets, several decomposing bodies in the street whose smell I could _never_ become used to, and raided houses. It was a little too familiar, but I pushed those thoughts out of my head.

On the way to Rick's sister's house, he told me all about her. I could tell how worried about her he really was, just by the way he searched frantically in the house. He told me all about his best friend, Shane, who was married to his sister, Lori. I kept him talking about memories of them all together to keep him optimistic, but it was hard for even me to stay optimistic when he mentioned how worried he was for his nephew, Carl.

It made things different, really, kids change everything. When he mentioned Carl I began to search frantically with him.

Something was wrong with this house, I could tell. All the pictures were missing for some reason.

"Rick," I called his name, and I didn't expect a response. I walked over to the living room, where he was sitting with his face dug into his palms. He looked defeated, and I stood there like an idiot, unsure of what to do.

"Rick," I said in a soft voice, "I need to know something," I began, he looked up me with red eyes, "all the pictures are gone for some reason...do you know what's up with that?"

"No...pictures?" He started, I was scared for a moment, I was scared he'd yell at me for wasting his time with my insignificant findings.

He practically jumped off the couch and made his way to (what I assumed to be) Lori and Shane's room, I followed him to find him sitting on the bed observing empty frames.

"Rick, I'm sure Shane is taking damn good care of Lori and Carl, he would never let you down or put them in harm's way." I studied the room quietly, it wasn't too disheveled but it was obvious people were leaving in a rush. Just why were the pictures missing...

"If your sister like every other woman she probably took the family pictures with her when they were all leaving. They're all probably safe, like I said, and heading to the CDC." I took a seat next to him on the springy bed, I was never good at comforting, but hey I was trying my damn best.

I put my arm around him and pulled him closer, I don't know why either. It felt right. He tensed a bit at first, but relaxed and we stayed like that for a little bit, it was different to say the least.

"I just wish they left a note." He mumbled.

"They were probably in a rush to get out of here," I replied quietly, I didn't want to ruin this tranquil moment. "They're probably safe."

He sighed and got up without looking back, I admit I felt a little hurt but I thought nothing of it. We're still strangers trying to survive, nothing more, nothing less.

I placed the frames delicately on the dresser and met him at the doorway, where he was leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed. I really hope he believed what I told him.

I was expecting just a quick "thanks" with his lovely accent...why did I just say that? I meant with his _normal_ and _average_ accent. Nothing special to it. Just a regular old accent that anyone would have. I can't let myself get caught up in his looks, which happened to be very nice and-

Is he hugging me? Oh god, hug back you idiot! I wrapped my arms around his back, but not too much so I wouldn't come off as creepy or anything and released my arms as quickly as I put them there.

The weird thing was, he still had his arms around me, to the point where I started to blush. I cleared my throat to try to I guess wake him up and snap him back to reality.

He pulled back and opened the distance between us again, "Thanks." He said, "I really appreciate it."

"No problem, should we be going now?"

He walked to window and checked outside for any walkers, "Yeah, I think we should head out to Atlanta. That'll be our best chances for an evacuation."

I nodded my head and followed him out of the house, but stopped to look at the house across the street. It looked all too familiar, it couldn't be.

I quickly made my way across the street, ignoring Rick's confused glance. I started to knock on the door, hoping she was alive and would answer. No response.

I turned the knob only to feel a firm grip on my shoulder, "What are you doing? You don't know what's inside!" Rick whispered in an alert tone, while trying to prevent me from entering.

What was I supposed to tell him? I couldn't even remember the house too well myself, but I felt obligated to enter.

"You don't have to follow me, I just...I just need closure." I turned my back to him and slowly entered the dark house, with him trailing behind.

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><p><em>Next chapter will be a prequel to this story. Thanks for reading! 3<br>_


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks again to those who have added my story to their alerts and favorites, would love to see some reviews though ~_

_Padme4000: Yeah I thought it was a bit weird as well at first, but single Rick is better ;-D_

_holeintheearth: __Thanks for the kind words! It really helps~ and I agree about there being a lot of Daryl fics__...Rick doesn't get much love :-(  
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><p><strong>August 12, 2010<strong>

Georgia sucks ass.

_Especially_ the weather.

I examined my finger nails as I was sitting on the worn down leather couch, "Jane, of all the places you could've moved to, why Georgia?" I called out to her, and she didn't even answer me. What a jerk.

I sulked deeper into my seat while crossing my arms and pouting my lips as if I were about to throw a tantrum, hoping Jane would peek out of the bathroom and see the disapproval written all over my face. Jeez, what was taking her so damn long to get ready? I checked my phone for about the hundredth time that night.

"Jane you look fine!" I yelled without looking up, and I was mostly likely right. She always does, and it doesn't even matter because we're going to a bar tonight! Everyone will be drunk and you'll look like a fuckin' supermodel to them anyways.

I finally heard her exit the bathroom, and I assumed she was standing there waiting for a compliment from me. I assumed this because I was pretending not to look by examining my hands some more to get on her nerves, that is, until a pillow met my face.

"Isabelle!" She whined, "Do I look okay?" I rolled my eyes in response, she looked fine! I didn't want to give attitude though…not tonight when she was going to be my ride to get drinks.

"Yes you look beautiful, Jane," I wasn't lying either, I wouldn't lie to my best friend, as much as she got on my nerves, "_as always. _Can we go now? It's almost 8." I checked my phone again, it was 7:48 PM.

"Yeah, just let me leave a note for Luke."

I groaned in response and tugged my face out of frustration, "I thought you already left one!" I _really _need a drink.

"Calm your tits, Isabelle, just let me write this. You know how Luke gets when I don't leave a note…" she trailed off as she left to her kitchen.

She soon returned, and we both left to solve our problems the good 'ol fashioned way: with alcohol.

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><p>The bar was pretty quiet that night, no one interesting to talk to and no good looking men to look at. I could tell Jane was just as bored as I was, but hey I was just there for the drinks.<p>

I sat at the stool tapping at the counter, and Jane sighed as she watched the news. Man, nothing happens in Georgia. The bartender turned to us several times and asked us if we wanted anything, but we said 'nah' each time. I guess we're just not feeling it tonight.

I turned to Jane and noticed her very bored look on her face, "I think we should go. I'm pretty bored."

"Yeah…I'm not really feeling it right now. Go wait outside, I'll be there in a little bit."

I didn't think anything of it, she was probably going to go to the bathroom or something like that. So I listened and just waited outside, it was a little chilly too.

I checked the time, it was almost 10, well at least we killed about two hours of time. I wonder what's on tv right now…

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><p>I woke up to the TV on and with a little headache that made my temples ache. I looked over to the other side of the couch to see Jane's sleeping form. It's been a pretty boring week so far, especially last night. We just went home and watched Netflix on the couch until we both passed out.<p>

It'd been…what? My second week? Damn, already? As much as I hated this state and its weather, I still didn't really feel like going home. I wanted to buy more time, I didn't want to leave yet. I didn't want to find out where I'd be getting deployed off to yet. Unfortunately, I would have to leave soon so I could at least visit my family back home before leaving off to god knows where.

I heard a slight grumble coming from across the room along with some mumbling. "Mmmm…I'm hungry."

"Yeah? I'm tired. Can't we just stay here all day and watch TV?" I asked her as I turned on the TV, which was on the news. Boring, like anything happens in Georgia.

"Nothing to do…" she mumbled as she got off the couch, I chuckled as I saw her stumble because of her grogginess.

"Where ya going?"

She rubbed her eyes for a moment and looked at me, still half awake, "Gonna get coffee, wanna come with me?"

"Sure," I sighed, "Let me get some clothes on." As much as I wanted to lay on the couch all day, I got up and went to the guest room upstairs to change into more comfortable clothes. The weather wasn't too bad, so I just threw on some t-shirt with jeans.

I went back downstairs and met with a concerned Jane, "What's up?"

She seemed to be studying something outside the window, so I spoke again to get her attention, "Jane…what's up?"

Her eyebrows were scrunched together, "Huh. Luke's not here."

I joined her in looking out the window, and she was right. Luke's car wasn't there, which was a little odd, but nothing to be really concerned about.

"Let's go?"

"Yeah, let's."

We left her house and made out way to the coffee shop that was a several blocks away, the streets were kind of quiet, but it's probably since it was an early Sunday morning so maybe everyone was at Church.

The 'open' sign on the coffee shop wasn't lit up which was rather…odd. I started to get this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach, until Jane interrupted my thoughts by knocking on the front door.

The owner, who looked very disgruntled, came to the door and pointed to the "closed" sign that we somehow missed. I took notice of the gun in his holster…wonder why that was there. I've never lived in Georgia or this city so I'm not sure if that's a norm around here or not.

"Why are you guys closed?" I could tell she was starting to get annoyed, I learned the hard way before to never get in between my best friend and her coffee.

Instead, the coffee shop owner completely ignored our pleas for a nice, hot cup of coffee and closed the blinds to the store. He could've been more polite, but whatever. Jane, on the other hand, was rather irritated. She started to try to pull on the door to open it, but it was locked, and it looked like she was close to breaking the damn door. The last thing I was is us to get arrested for vandalism, so I grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back, "Jane, it's not a big deal! We can just make coffee back at your place…"

"Fine." She said with a scorn tone to which I just rolled my eyes.

I noticed a man who was probably in the same coffee deprived state as us who was approaching the door to the coffee shop. He looked…what I assumed to be homeless. His clothes were a bit ratty and he looked as if he were just in a scruffle.

Jane and I began to back away from the door to let the man pass by, and we turned our backs to leave when the man lunged for Jane's shoulder and bit into it.

What the fuck just happened? One moment we're at the door of the shop, and the next…

Jane's screeches nearly caused my eardrums to explode, but I was quick to react. I grabbed the man who was…trying to eat her? It didn't matter either way, he was still attacking my best friend.

I reached for his shoulder to turn him around and throw him to the ground so we could get away and call the cops, but he turned and sunk his teeth into my exposed forearm.

"Fuck!" I screamed while pulling my arm away. Why the hell did he just bite me? Is this guy a fucking maniac? I bit my lip at the pain and focused on the man in front of me, who was still coming at me, so I started to back up quickly.

I was at a safer distance, and his attention wasn't on me anymore. It was on Jane, who was now leaning against the wall of the shop while applying pressure to her bleeding shoulder. I ran up behind the man and kicked him in the back so I could throw him off his balance. He landed face first into the sidewalk, which had to hurt and had to have kept him down.

I then turned my attention back to Jane, who started to run towards me and yelled, "Isabelle! Your forearm!" I looked down to see my arm was bleeding, I had completely forgotten that I was bitten due to my adrenaline rush. Blood was pouring out the wound and it wasn't severe, but that wasn't what I was worried about. I pulled off my shirt to tie it around the wound; I really need to get back home now to clean this.

Suddenly the door to the coffee shop burst open and the owner stepped out with his gun pointed at us, screaming. I couldn't make out what he was screaming, everything was happening so slowly as I saw the man who I had just kicked into the sidewalk a moment ago get up and lunge at the coffee shop owner. I turned looked to Jane, who was staring in horror at what was happening before her, things I never want to witness in my life.

"Jane we have to get back to your house now!" I yelled to her, and pulled her to started running away with me.

We both took off and didn't turn our heads back, we couldn't. I have no fucking clue what just happened but I knew I had to get both of us back to her house to take care of our wounds, especially hers first. Jane's shoulder was bleeding more than my forearm; it appeared that the son of a bitch took some flesh out of her.

Jane's run was beginning to slow down, but fortunately we were a safe distance from the shop and not too far from her house. I ran to her and I could feel my heart sink when I saw the wound; it wasn't that it was a lot of bleeding but because of the high risk of infection from a _human_ bite.

"Jane, please, listen to me." I cupped her face and spoke slowly for her to understand as I could see she was in shock as to what just happened, "Jane, we have to get to your house _right now_ to clean both of our wounds. I know you're in shock, I understand, I am too, but we have to get home _now._" She kept nodding her head as if she was trying to shake herself awake out of this nightmare and slung her good arm around my shoulder to lean on me.

It was only a couple more minutes until we would reach her house, and I could see Luke's car parked in the driveway which almost made me scream in excitement.

I desperately banged on the door, "Luke! Luke! It's Isabelle! Jane's hurt open the fucking door!" I screamed, my frustration growing as I knew he was home but wasn't opening the door.

The door swung open and I'd never been happier to see anyone in my life.

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><p><em>I'm not very good at action scenes…sorry guys. Also I apologize for the slow chaptersupdates, the reason for the slowness at the beginning is to build up to the future chapters. Let me know what you think though!_


	4. Chapter 4

_CiralFox: __Thanks for the review~ and I hope to be updating quickly the next couple of days_

_Lori ItsTWD:__ I told her not to do that -_-, but thanks for the review and the compliment about my writing style really helps 3_

_Everyone else: thanks for the support!_

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><p>My head feels heavy and it hurts so much to breathe, my breaths feel slightly ragged. My face is burning up and my vision is hazy. The smell of vomit and coagulated blood stings my nostrils, and I move to a different position to not feel so stiff because of the aches in my muscles. Bad idea, I realize this when pain sears up my forearm.<p>

I hissed through my teeth and looked down to my forearm with half lidded eyes and noticed it was bandaged tightly, with some blood stains peeking through. I was drifting in and out of consciousness, confused as to what happened. Where am I? How did I get here?

I hear some footsteps and I crane my neck to try to see past the darkness before me.

"She's awake! Luke, she's awake!" A distant and muffled voice stung my sensitive ears. I felt a firm grip on my shoulder as a somewhat recognizable face met mine, this figure also had a similar bandage to mine, but where her shoulder was. "Isabelle? Isabelle?" She shook me awake, "Isabelle?" She whispered, why was she trying to stay quiet? Why was the room so dim?

My throat was so dry that my response only sounded like a small croak, so I tried again, "J-Jane..?"

She laughed quietly and hugged me tightly, I could feel her tears soak into my shirt, "I thought you were gone…" Unsure of what to do I threw my arm around her backside and leaned into her touch. I knew this Jane; I had to for her to be interacting in this way towards me.

A taller figure walked into the room and knelt beside Jane with a small cup in his hand, to which he handed over to Jane. He leaned forward and pressed the back of his hand against my forehead, "She still has a fever, Jane." He turned his attention to me and handed me several pills, "Take these now."

I used my good arm to reach for the pills, but I kept missing each time. My hand eye coordination was way off.

"Here, give me them." Jane grabbed the pills and placed them by my mouth, so I opened my mouth and swallowed the pills. She cupped my cheek again to gently press the cup of water to my mouth, "They're antibiotics, don't worry." I was relieved feeling the liquid slide down my throat; I had been so parched, it was as if I haven't had water for _weeks._

She noticed me eyeing her bandage and continued to speak, "Oh…that…I'm fine. Don't worry about me Isabelle, right now we have to take care of you." She spoke in the same tone a mother would to her child.

I felt safe.

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><p>I woke up again, but this time in the living room downstairs. My head felt a lot better and my memory was slowly, but surely, coming back. I didn't have a clear memory of what had caused my injuries, but I knew where I was and who was taking care of.<p>

"Jane? Luke…?" I called out, only for Luke to rush in and cup my mouth.

"Shh! You'll lead them here!" He whispered hastily, lead who?

"Huh?"

"How do you feel?" He asked, ignoring my confused look from his previous warning.

"Okay," I sat up straighter to rub my temple, "And Jane?"

He broke off eye contact, "She…she's sick. She's going through the stage you went through earlier, only worse."

"Where is she?" I asked while feeling my heart sink to the floor, knowing it wasn't going to be pretty.

"She locked herself in the room by the kitchen, doesn't want anyone to see her." He sighed and felt my forehead like he did earlier, "Looks like the antibiotics are helping."

"Yeah they are…" I trailed off while trying to absorb in my surroundings. I was curious as to why all the windows had blankets covering them and the door was boarded with wooden planks…

His eyes followed mine, "I'm sure you want to know what's going on."

I gave a weak smile, "Heh, yeah. I do want to know."

"The reason I was gone this morning…was to get supplies to last us a while." He pointed to the pile of canned goods in the corner of the living room, along with other medical supplies. "I'm sorry, Isabelle," he placed his hand on mine and I prepared myself for bad news, "I don't think you'll be going home soon."

I straightened myself out, "Luke, stop fucking around. Tell me what's going on now!" I whispered, remembering his previous warnings.

"What do you remember?"

"This man bit Jane…and I tried to fight him off for her, and he bit me too…"

His eyes widened in horror, "Oh no…Isabelle, you were bit? Jane didn't tell me…"

His reaction was starting to scare me even more than before, "What? What is it?"

"Isabelle, I'm sorry. I need you to come with me."

As much as my legs ached, I got up off the couch and followed him to a small room, to where he led me to a room with a locked door. He pulled out a small key and unlocked it, and motioned me inside.

I turned to him, "Luke? What the fuck?"

"Just…" He couldn't even look at me, I knew this was hurting him too. "I'm sorry." It was the last thing he said before closing the door on me.

I turned slowly, not wanting to see what was in the empty space behind me. In the room was a very gaunt and sick Jane, her face pale and eyes sunken in.

I kneeled down beside her, tears welling up in my eyes, "Jane? What's wrong? What happened?" My voice began to creak but I couldn't give less of a shit.

I knew she was probably exhausted, but it didn't matter, as selfish as that sounds. I wanted to know what happened to know and I want to know how I can help her.

"Luke said…" she started but her voice was beginning to fade away, "bites turn you into them…that's why we're here.." She coughed some blood up and I tried my best to keep my composure but inside I was screaming, trying to wake myself up from this never ending nightmare, "I told him you weren't bitten so you wouldn't be locked in here with me…I didn't want you to be here when I turn…" Her breaths became more ragged and as much as I didn't want to admit it, she was losing her battle.

I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to prevent from breaking down and screaming in front of my best friend, I couldn't act selfish. Not when she's dying, but it was just _so_ hard to keep it together. Seeing someone in front of you waste away, it was hard to stay calm.

"Jane…" I couldn't even make eye contact with her, there was no life behind her eyes. She was already dead. No fire or fight in her eyes, she'd given up.

"Please…go..don't stay here…" She said as her breaths slowed down completely and she stopped moving. I don't know what to do, I didn't even know what was going on. Nothing mattered anymore. This was my fault. I should've been quicker.

I couldn't do it anymore, I couldn't stay strong any longer. I could feel the tears building up and I started to shake as the sobs broke out, while trying my best to stay silent.

Why me? Why now?

I cried to myself for several more moments and then stared at the lifeless body before me, silently praying that she would just come back and I would just wake up like nothing happened.

I wiped the tears from my eyes and took several deep breaths to calm myself down. I then pulled the sheet over her face as a sign of respect, and then got up to go to the door.

I knocked lightly, but hard enough to get Luke's attention.

It was several moments and more knocking until he'd responded with a faint, "What?"

"Luke…she's gone. I'm so sorry…" I sniffled and my voice cracked more, as I pressed my forehead lightly against the wooden door, I didn't know how to say it either, making me feel even worse, how was I supposed to deliver the death of a loved one?

I heard quiet shuffling behind me, and turned to see the blanket move, stiff movements, but still…Jane was alive!

I gasped loudly and turned to the door, "Luke! She's alive! She's moving!"

That was when the door handle turned, and the door was swung open, where I was dragged out by Luke. He pushed me against the wall with one hand, and turned to lock the door.

I was on the edge of punching him in the face, why would he lock her in there? She's alive! She's not dead! Why lock away someone who is alive?

He checked my forehead once more and tilted his head in confusion, "You look…healthy. You should be dead."

I was disgusted at his actions and I reached for the door handle to try to open the door, but he firmly grabbed my wrist and tugged it away from the door, "What the hell are you doing, Luke?" I was beyond pissed now. "She's alive! I saw her move! Let me go you bastard!" I was struggling, and I finally was let go.

I rubbed at the soreness in my wrists and was hoping that the disgusted look I was giving him would kill him.

"I'm sorry, Isabelle, I suppose I should've explained better, I just couldn't take the risk." The guilt was written all over his face, I knew that he didn't want to do what he just did, but it was difficult to think straight in the position I was in.

"You're damn right you should've explained!" I hissed back to him, my breaths were quick and my heart pounding. I was so frustrated because no one was telling me anything!

He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "We need to talk, not here though. Somewhere safer, let's get the supplies and go upstairs first."

Whatever, I just wanted answers, so I did as I was told.

Luke led me to the kitchen to where he pointed to the backpacks there; it appeared that he'd already moved the food and water upstairs already. He picked up one backpack and handed it to me, "Here, Jane packed it for you." My heart ached at hearing her name, she was in a room, locked and by herself, she was _alive_.

I grabbed the backpack, not bothering to check the contents inside, and made my way upstairs to the master bedroom. He trailed behind me, with an axe in his hand, where he placed it at the top of the staircase.

"Isabelle, this is going to be a lot to take in." He spoke slowly as if I was an idiot, "But first…I need you to have an open mind when I tell you what's going on. Please, I'm so sorry for what I did earlier, you'll understand later." He pleaded, and it was hard to stay angry because of the desperate tone he had in his voice.

I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed, "Just tell me, Luke. Please," I couldn't help it, the tears began to fall down my cheeks again, "Just tell me."

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><p><em>Next chapter…well Isabelle will be finding out what's going on. I'm pretty satisfied with this chapter, let me know what you guys think! Thanks for reading!~~<em>


	5. Chapter 5

In all honesty, I didn't want to hear it. I just wanted my friend back. I couldn't give less of a shit about what Luke had to tell me. I just didn't want to hear it.

"Isabelle, listen the reason I put you two into…a…"

"A quarantine?" I finished his sentence with a snarky tone, I couldn't help it really. And I didn't mean to come off as so short-tempered, but I was still oblivious to the situation. Damn it, I'm feeling so conflicted right now.

"Yeah…" He started, and his shoulders were starting to shake. This was the last thing I wanted, him breaking down.

"I'm sorry for how I'm acting Luke, I shouldn't be like this…" now I felt like shit, "I need to stop with the bitchiness, you don't deserve it."

He pinched the bridge of his and I noticed a tear slide down his face, I'm not good with men crying. At all. But I tried my best to comfort him by letting him lean on my shoulder.

"It's all my fault, Isabelle. This shouldn't have happened." He sobbed quietly into my shoulder and my heart continued to ache for I could feel his pain.

I tried my best to tell him otherwise, but no matter what I'd been trying to tell him it only seemed to hurt him more. What am I doing wrong?

Luke then pulled back from my touch, and he tried his best to wipe the tears away as if he was ashamed to look so vulnerable around me. Even if I'm not good with people crying, I didn't mind that he was showing his emotions. It was completely understandable, of course, he'd just lost his girlfriend and best friend.

"Luke, I'm not trying to sound insensitive…" I started slowly, he looked up at me and nodded his head for me to continue, "I really need you to tell me what's going on."

He sniffled several more times and took a deep breath, "Right, right. I'm sorry, Isabelle. I keep getting off track."

I rubbed his shoulder tenderly, it was the best way I could show that I was understand.

"I just…" He sighed, "I need to get on with it and tell you, huh?"

I shrugged and tried to give my best smile, "Well, I really would like to know, Luke."

"The man…who bit you," he started as he eyed my bandage, "he had a disease. It was on the news really early this morning, the reason I wasn't here was to get food. I should've stayed. I'm such an idiot, Isabelle. I'm so fucking stupid."

I sighed, "Luke, don't. Don't start playing the blame game and thinking what if, it's not going to make anything better." I felt a headache coming on from the crying earlier and my growing frustration, "Please, just continue." I know I was sounding like an asshole, but I couldn't be kept in the dark any longer, especially since he said the man who bit me has a fucking _disease,_ I deserve the right to know.

"The news reported that the dead were coming back to life…like zombies or some shit like that. I don't know, all they reported was that if you were bit you would turn into one after you died."

"Zombies?" I asked skeptically. I knew what zombies were, hell I always watched zombie movies back when in college and after would play some Dead Rising or Left 4 Dead. But in real life? Come on, I'm not stupid.

I was just so baffled at the moment though…zombies? I was entirely at a loss for words, so I did the next stupid thing I could think of…I laughed.

I laughed softly, while nervously at the same time. Thank god Luke was a good friend of mine, because I know anyone else would've beaten the shit out of me. It truly was a bad habit of mine.

"Yeah, but they're not being called that. They're called walkers." It seemed more like a fitting name…since I just wouldn't be able to bring myself to ever call them zombies, zombies were fictional, they shouldn't and wouldn't _ever _exist. Just like these "walkers" Luke was talking about.

"I don't… want to believe this, Luke. At all." This couldn't be real. This was a dream, had to be. I tried my best to pinch my arm and wake myself up, only for Luke to grab my hand to stop me.

"It's hard to take in, I understand that, but we need to both…" he sighed as if he didn't want to finish his sentence, "we need to move on and accept what's going on so we can survive."

I nodded my head, I wanted to cry. I really did. I wanted to scream and yell and break everything in sight. I just wanted to be home with my family.

My family…

"Luke, where has this been happening?" I asked, my breathing getting quicker as I was starting to get nervous about my family back west, the last thing I wanted was for something to happen and me not being there.

"So far it's the east coast, haven't heard much about the west coast." He paused, taking notice of the very worried look etched on my face, "But I'm more than 100% sure that your mom and brother are okay. I know it, Isabelle." His soft tone helped somewhat, but it wasn't enough. It wouldn't be enough until I'd hear their voices and them saying that they're alive and just…safe. I just wanted them to be safe.

I jumped off the bed and tried to go downstairs to get my cell phone, but I was stopped by Luke. "Don't. They'll hear you, I disconnected the phone anyways so it wouldn't go off."

"Damn it!" I pounded my first on the wall, not caring about the pain. "How am I supposed to know my family is okay? Huh?" I shoved him out of anger, "How the fuck am I supposed to know?"

"Isabelle, _please_." He pleaded, "Calm down, we can't risk them hearing us!"

I took multiple deep breaths, "I just want to talk to my mom and brother. That's all, Luke. Just give me a working phone and I'll shut up."

He stuffed his hands into his pockets and pulled out his cell phone to hand to me, it had barely any signal. This was going to be fun.

I quickly dialed my home phone number. Several rings and no answer. Fuck. I tried calling my mom's cell phone. Didn't work either, fuck fuck fuck.

God, I know I've sinned before in my life, but please take it out on me and not my family. Please make sure they're okay. Please.

I tried one more time by calling my brother's cell phone. One ring. Two rings. Three rings. Ring ring ring. More rings.

I was on the verge of giving up and smashing the fucking cell phone into the wall, until my brother answered in a whisper.

I almost squealed but I tried to keep quiet due to Luke's glare, "Jason! Jason! Oh my god, I'm so fucking happy to hear your voice. Where are you? Is mom okay? Are you okay?" I know I was overwhelming my brother with questions and that now was probably not the best moment to be doing so, but I needed to know.

"Yes…we're fine, Isabelle. Mom's with me. We're at a marine base in San Diego right now, preparing for an evacuation to the Catalina Islands. It's our best bet for survival. What about you? Are you okay?"

I didn't want to tell him, I just couldn't bring myself to tell him the bad news, but I had to, it wouldn't have felt right to keep it from him. I lowered my voice, "Jason, please don't tell mom this…I was bit. I don't know what's going to happen." My voice started to break, and I tried my best to stay strong for my brother, "Jane got bit too, and she died about twenty minutes ago but…she came back. I don't remember much about this morning, I just remember being bitten."

My brother sighed on the end of the line, yet remained calm, how he managed to do so was beyond me. "Isabelle, I need to know how long it's been and how you're feeling now."

"It's been about four or five hours…and I don't feel terrible. I did earlier, but now I feel fine. No fever or anything."

"Where are you?"

"Upstairs in a boarded up house."

"Fuck." He said silently, "Mom's going to freak."

"No, Jason, please don't tell her. Tell her I'm safe."

"And if something happens to you?"

"I'll be fine, I just need to talk to Luke on our plans on getting to an evacuation."

"Is it bad in the neighborhood you're in?" He sounded like he was getting anxious, and pretty fast, I think I could hear my mom in the background.

"I don't know Jason, we'll be fine. All that matters is that you and mom are safe, don't worry about me."

"I have to fucking worry, Isabelle!" His voice lowered, "You've been bit and you're in some boarded house! I have to worry!"

"I feel fine though!"

"Maybe you're one of the lucky ones, Isabelle…" I was just about to question what he meant until I heard the phone snatched from him and I could hear the frantic calls of my name coming from my mom.

"Isabelle? Isabelle? Honey are you okay? Where are you?"

I smiled at the sound of my mom's voice, "Mom, I'm fine. Don't worry, I'm in…a-a safe place. I should be getting evacuated soon." I felt terrible for lying to my mom like this, but I didn't have the heart to tell her how it really was here.

"Oh thank god, Isabelle. The way Jason was talking on the phone scared me."

"How about you, mom? Are you okay?"

"Yes, sweetie, of course. We were the fortunate ones to get to some military base, there aren't that many people here so I think we'll be fine. But don't even worry about us."

Luke looked over to me as if I needed to wrap things up, I knew that we had a lot of things to attend to.

"Mom, I have to go now. I love you so much and please stay safe. I'll try to contact you whenever I can." I paused for a brief moment, "Can you pass the phone to Jason so I could say bye?" I asked softly, holding back a sniffle.

"I love you too, Isabelle. Here's Jason." I heard the phone being passed and my brother answered softly.

"Yeah?"

"I'll try to contact you guys when I get the chance. Protect mom, alright? And I'm going to try my damn best to get to you. I love you."

"Stay strong, Isabelle. I love you too." He said before hanging up, I was praying that it wouldn't be our last words to each other.

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><p>The next couple of hours, Luke and I had to prepare for the following weeks. He'd thoroughly explained to me the situation better, and we were sure to keep the radio on quietly) so we could be informed at all times. So far, we've only learned that these walkers feed on human flesh and can be killed by a shot to the head.<p>

After he'd told me more about the situation, we'd decided when we'd be keeping watch. We also divided up the food among us; there was enough food to keep us going for at least two or three weeks. In the corner of the master bedroom we placed our backpacks and Luke's handgun in case we'd have to abandon the house. We were both hoping the whole threat would die down in a matter of weeks, but had to come to the realization that we'd have to eventually abandon the house.

The master bedroom is pretty much where we'd be staying, waiting out the storm. It was in the middle of upstairs and was the biggest room with not too many windows. The most vital part was that it was in the front of the house, so we could see ahead of the house into the street and the driveway was right below us in case we'd need to get to a car.

Luke explained to me why he had the axe, besides the obvious use as a weapon, he told me it was to destroy the staircase. And…my stuff was downstairs. Great.

It was now probably 8 pm or 9 pm, and Luke was still waiting until there wasn't any more walkers in the area before breaking the staircase. So I took advantage of when he was peeking out the curtains to sneak downstairs and grab my things.

Before I was able to get past the doorway, Luke had already turned around, I was caught.

"Where are you going?"

"I…I was going to get my stuff downstairs." I replied hesitantly, while trying to sneak away from the door casually.

"Let me get it for you, I don't want you making noise downstairs. I need to check the windows anyways."

I sighed and slumped down on the bed, "Alright fine, I just need my phone and clothes."

"Your clothes are already in your backpack because Ja-" He paused, he couldn't even finish the sentence, "I'll get your phone."

This sucked. I mean really, it was hard to describe how shitty the situation was, but it sucked ass. Both of us were still hurting and grieving, which was normal, I was just hoping that it wouldn't impair our survival abilities.

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><p><strong>August 26, 2010<strong>

The nights were the worst. I wish Luke had somehow gotten a hold of some ear plugs or something. The incessant moans of the walkers kept ringing through my ears the whole night when I was trying to get my rest, no matter how hard I'd try to tune it out. Although Luke always assured me he would be fine with taking night watch, I could feel how torn he was when he'd hear her scratch at the door and groan. The guilt was tearing him apart, and no matter what I would say, nothing would help.

Sometimes at night I'd hear him quietly sobbing in the bathroom, and as always I'd ignore it and pretend I never heard it, but it was just as painful for me as it was for him…to be constantly reminded of a mistake you made.

I was woken by the sunlight bleeding through the blankets covering the windows; it'd been at least two weeks since the outbreak hit. Luke and I were doing fine, I mean we could be doing better, but we were still alive.

My wounds had been healing nicely, and yesterday I was finally able to take off the bandages. There was a slight bite mark, but it could've been mistaken for something that happened when I was much younger, which was really good for me if we were to come across other bands of survivors. From what the radios been saying, a bite turns you into them and if someone were to see my bite mark…I didn't even want to think about it.

Not much had happened the past couple of days, besides the occasional walker coming up to tap on the windows downstairs and maybe a hiss or groan here and there.

Something was different this morning though, Luke wasn't in the spot he should've been. I checked the clock on the wall, the time wasn't wrong or anything. I definitely hadn't slept in either, how could I have with the constant reminder of the undead outside?

Okay, this was getting borderline weird. He didn't even have his gun with him. Ever since day one, Luke _always_ carried his gun. But it was here, on the dresser. And not with him.

I raised an eyebrow and grabbed the gun to holster it in my pants, just in case one of those bastards had broken in. I swear I would've heard it too.

"Luke?" I called out, hoping nothing bad happened to him, or else I'd be shit out of luck. I turned back to the room, there was still supplies (but barely), and he wouldn't have left without telling me anything. Our bags were still there too.

I checked all the rooms upstairs, and still no sign of him. The ladder (which was now used instead of the staircase) was untouched. I would go down there…but I was never allowed to. Luke told me before that I would always stay upstairs because it was safer.

I heard some…weird sounds coming from downstairs. Like…

…flesh being eaten.

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><p><em>Thanks for reading guys! I'd really like some feedback …. :-*<em>

_Also, sorry for the writing being a little all over the place, it's to reflect Isabelle's thoughts of course, since she's still a bit in denial over the whole apocalypse thing. _

_I think it'll be about one or two more chapters until we get back to Rick and Isabelle. Again, thanks for reading~_


	6. Chapter 6

_MrMuffles: __ thanks for reading, and yeah, I have not stumbled upon any stories with an immune character, but I'm very happy that you're enjoying it so far~ _

_Padme4000:__ it's okay don't worry about it :3, but thank you for reviewing! I guess you'll have to keep reading to find out what happens to her ;-)_

_Doctorkaitlyn: __I'm glad you read it , and I already told you my tenses are quite funky :p and thanks so much for the potential comments, you know how much it helps~_

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><p>The sound of flesh being chewed and picked apart is a sound nobody should <em>ever<em> have to hear.

Crunch.

Snap.

Crack.

I slid down the wall behind me, unsure of what to do. The idea of never leaving a fallen comrade behind had always been drilled into my head from basic. I can't just _leave_ him.

Hell, I don't even know if it was him. Maybe it could be someone else. Maybe someone stumbled inside and brought in a walker! That had to be it! But then again, wouldn't I have heard it? Or maybe Luke? Luke wouldn't just go down there, he's smarter than that. Maybe he left to get food!

I turned my head to get a quick glance inside the master bedroom, everything we needed was there…

Okay, well maybe he went to scout outside and see if it was safe enough for us to leave.

But his gun was there…

Maybe he's- oh stop with the guessing games Isabelle. He's not here, something is down there, something is being _eaten_ downstairs. You have to do something and _now._

Should I peek over the balcony? What will I see? What if whatever's down there sees me? Fuck. I sighed silently to myself and rested my face in my palms. What the hell was I going to do?

Different scenarios played through my head, I could:

a)Hide and wait for Luke to come back

b)Peek over the balcony to find out what was down there

c)Cry like a bitch

I couldn't risk whatever was down there from seeing me, so that took out choice B. I knew choice C would get me nowhere, so why even bother. I learned two weeks ago that crying and begging won't get you shit.

And so choice A was left, waiting. Wouldn't be too hard, I mean I've been doing it for a couple weeks now, right?

I stood up to get back to the room and try to think over the matter some more. If I was going to make a decision, I have to make it now. I don't want to pussy foot around the damn situation.

I know I have to take all possibilities into consideration, and as much as I don't want to think so, there could be a chance that it was Luke down there. I had to stop denying this and I had to stop letting my emotions get to me.

But no matter what, I couldn't swallow the fact that that could be true, that he could be down there.

And if he was? What would I do? Would he be alive?

My ear twitched at some footsteps outside the house, oh no. Oh god no, please don't tell me…

Thud. Thud. Thud.

I cupped my mouth to make sure I was dead silent and snuck over to the window in the master room; nothing in front of the house. Where were the thuds coming fr-

The sound of a window shattering almost made my heart jump out of my damn chest, someone was breaking in through the back. _Fuck_.

I heard the recognizable moans of the undead and instantly froze, with my hand still over my mouth. Could they smell me? Or were they here for something else?

I couldn't think anymore, I had to react.

I snuck to the dresser and searched and searched for any keys. Sock drawer. Underwear drawer. Shirts. More socks.

After some digging I found the car keys to Luke's car, and gripped them tightly so they wouldn't jingle and alert the undead downstairs. Man, I really wish I had ear buds, the shuffling of the walkers was only making my heart pound even more.

I reached for my bag and didn't bother to check its contents, instead I just grabbed as many cans of food I could fit in. _You know how Luke gets when I don't leave a note_, Jane's voice echoed in my mind. I hope he comes back.

I searched for a pen, pencil, anything I could write with. I was almost tearing up the dressers, and I found nothing. I did however, see her makeup bag.

Lipstick.

I pulled out one of the lipsticks and leaned forward to write on the mirror,

_Meet you at the CDC._

_Isabelle_

He's alive, I know it, he would get my note and he would meet me at the CDC. I just know it. I had to keep thinking positive, I had to stay optimistic as hard as it was.

I turned my head to listen for anymore sounds, and from what I was hearing there had to be at least ten walkers down there. I had to leave now.

I walked over to the main window in the room and made a quick peek to get a quick count of any possible walkers out there.

There were a couple scattered along the streets, and that made things a lot easier. All the walkers must have been coming in through the backyard, and not the front. Two or three walkers wouldn't be able to stop me if I was going to be fast.

I pushed the blanket out of the way and slid the window open, trying to keep my hands steady as if I were handling a bomb to not drop the glass that I was now sliding out. A gush of wind hit my face and it felt pretty satisfying against my sweaty, hot skin.

I slipped one leg out, making sure with every move I made the walkers wouldn't suddenly turn their attention to me. Once the coast was clear, I slid my other leg out so that I was sitting on the window pane.

I tried my best to slide down the slope of the roof, and once I'd gotten to the end, I froze, just to make sure.

It was probably going to be an eight foot drop or so, but anything better than waiting here and wasting away. I jumped down and tried my best to land quietly. God damn this bag felt heavy.

Once I was on the ground, I ducked to make sure that the walkers outside or the ones inside the house wouldn't see me. I slid my way around the car and pulled the keys out of my pocket to unlock the door.

My hands were so sweaty and I was trying to keep a cool head, but these fucking keys were so frustrating!

I kept fumbling with the keys, and they fucking slipped out of my hand. On to the sidewalk. Nice fucking job, Isabelle. I could start to hear the hisses of the walkers around me and I quickly grabbed the keys and jammed them into the lock to unlock the door, I couldn't get distracted.

They were nearing me, probably a good ten or so feet away, so as soon as I got the door open, I threw my bag and gun in, not caring about anything at that moment, jumping in after my bag and gun.

One managed to get close to the door, but I kept pressing down on the lock button. I tried my best to keep ignoring their hisses and moans as they all crowded the car and continued to bang on the windows.

I turned the car on, slammed the gas and crushed the ones in front of the car. I hope those sons of bitches could feel pain.

I drove out of the neighborhood with a heavy grip on the steering wheel, and never looked back.

* * *

><p>I'd barely left the neighborhood, which was a real pain in the ass by the way, when I stopped by a car shop and saw her.<p>

I wasn't sure what the year and model it was, but it was one hot car. There weren't any walkers in the area either! This (had to be 60s) Chevy El Camino was just calling my name.

At first, I admired it from the distance, while observing the area first, of course. I smiled, since all the walkers in the area had already been run down by yours truly.

I pulled up to the car and could feel myself drooling, it was a glossy black paint with white racing stripes. Beautiful.

Only problem was, how the hell was I supposed to start her up? I don't think I remembered how to hotwire a car, haven't done it in a long time. Shit. And what if it had an alarm? Then I'd be going up shit creek, and without a paddle.

I sat in the car for a while and pondered the many things I could do…I know I shouldn't be out here like this. But a car like that was…too nice to give up. Since it was in a shop there was a good chance it'd run better than the car I was currently stuck with.

I parked the car and opened to get a better look at the El Camino and assess the situation. I stepped over to the passenger door, where there seemed to be…a hand.

Just a hand.

I plucked the hand away and saw that it was holding on to the keys, poor bastard. Poor, poor bastard. I really hope they'll forgive me for stealing their ride. Well, technically it wasn't stealing, I was just borrowing it.

Just as I was about to transfer my belongings to the car, I heard the door to the car shop swing open. The walker was missing a hand; it actually looked down at the hand on the ground next to me and turned back to me. I had a feeling it was the car owner.

Fuck this. I threw my bags into the front seat and got the hell out of there. Last thing I wanted was stumpy to bring any friends to the area.

God damn this car was nice.

* * *

><p>Why did cars need gas? Seriously, why can't they run off, I don't know, sunlight or something? Gas stations were especially hell to find around here, all the ones I'd stopped at were out of gas or surrounded by walkers.<p>

What really confused me is how so fast this thing spread, how the hell did we let this happen? I frowned at the memories of what happened to Jane and I. I couldn't blame the people this happened to, shit happens.

I saw a gas station come up in the distance, and slowed down to get a better look. A couple abandoned cars here and there, but so far clear from walkers. It was getting dark, and this was my first time out since the outbreak, I wasn't sure what was going to happen.

However, I did know that I was happy for the first time in my life since there was an absence of "no gas" signs. I pulled up and opened the door slowly, I was going to have to go inside the little shop to get the gas working.

I leaned against the wall outside the door, with one hand on my handgun and the other on the handle. I pressed the handle slowly and stepped inside, making sure that my handgun would _always_ follow my line of sight.

The room was dimly lit, but the two corners near the doors were clear, and so I stepped further inside.

There were some snacks scattered around the floor, but other than that the place was pretty intact for a small gas station. I guess it was just in the middle of nowhere in the outskirts of Atlanta. Who cares, there was snacks, maps, and hopefully enough gas left.

I stepped over to the cash register an-

Everything went black.

* * *

><p><em>Isabelle can never catch a break, can she? <em>

_edit 11/16/2011: I won't be updating for a while, I'm sorry guys, so much work to get done. I hope to get out a chapter either Friday or Saturday at the latest, thanks for reading guys!  
><em>


	7. Chapter 7

_Doctorkaitlyn:_ _thanks for the review, and now reading back on it, I agree with you on the eeriness, I never noticed that before :3 and as for the car? Hell yeah! Might as well! I know I'd do the same thing_

_Padme4000: __Thanks :3 and poor Isabelle, right? We'll see if her luck gets any better_

_Oh gosh, sorry guys this took forever, been busy with life in general…and catching up on Dexter. :p_

* * *

><p><strong>August 27, 2010<strong>

My head is just _pounding_. Jeez…what the hell happened?

I was face down on the cold, rigid floor of the gas station store, who the hell did this? Stupid asshole better hope he's far from here…

I groaned and rolled over to my back, neither position was comfortable, but I wanted to stay lying down for a couple more moments. Just a little bit so I could have some peace and quiet…

"Where's my gun?" I said aloud to myself, patting myself to see if it was holstered somehow.

I sat up and frantically searched for my gun in the dim light that bled into the convenience store, was there a clock around here? I patted my surroundings desperately; it couldn't have been that far from here, I didn't throw my gun like some shithead when I was knocked out.

My head ached just from moving, so I slowly stood up, but stumbled around a bit. I almost lost my footing, but the counter with the cash register saved me.

Leaning on the counter, I reached in my pocket for my phone. No service, not too surprised by that, and just my luck, it was dying. The only reason I kept it was to serve as a calendar and a watch, well only a watch and calendar for probably another hour or so.

It's 4:22 AM. Well at least it's not night time anymore.

I rubbed my head some more, I guess I wasn't alone when I thought I was. How naïve of me, how could I be so stupid? I swear if I find that son of a bitch…

I pushed myself off of the counter to walk around the store some more, I know that my gun probably wasn't thrown at all, but it wouldn't help to try to find it, right?

It wasn't near me, or around the store either, which frustrated me more and I came to the unfortunate conclusion that some motherfucker took it.

I was desperate enough to go check the cash register, nope nothing, just some twenties and change. Should I even take the cash? Does it even hold value anymore? Screw it, I'll pocket it anyways, you never know.

Where are the damn lights in this place?

I stumbled around some more, angry that I couldn't find my gun and even more annoyed that there wasn't that many useful items in here. I can't really expect much though; it's just some run down convenient store in the middle of nowhere.

I made my way to the front door so I could get the hell out of there, and I noticed something funny. Well, actually a couple of funny things.

The first thing was that my things were right next to the entrance of the door.

The second thing was that the door was locked, and the keys were hung by the door.

That's nice, that asshole had the decency to lock me in here and leave my stuff in here. Y'know, since they didn't feel bad about knocking me out and leaving me here, but they would have felt bad for taking my things.

I know I'm not going to like what I see when I open this door, I'm not stupid. I know my car is gone. I know that someone took my gun and my ride. Just fucking great.

The only upside to the whole shitty situation was that I had keys to lock the place up and there were some supplies in here I could put to some use…

* * *

><p><strong>August 28, 2011<strong>

My first day here wasn't that bad and to be quite honest, I'm glad that this shitty place is in the middle of nowhere. It was sort of surprising that no walkers stumbled by the place the whole day.

I guess I'm just so lucky, huh?

Other than that, all I did was make myself comfy, wash myself up and barricade the place a little bit more. I'm not too sure on how long I'll be staying here, but all I know is that there are plenty of supplies to last me a while. It doesn't matter too much though, since I won't and shouldn't be staying here too long anyways. I'm really just waiting for the best time to leave…when whatever is going on starts to die down a little bit.

So in short, I'll be holding it out here for a little longer – just enough time.

* * *

><p><strong>August 30, 2010<strong>

I'm so bored. I'm not creative enough to come up with some sort of game either.

Why do days have to be so long?

* * *

><p><strong>August 31, 2010<strong>

So I finally decided to look in my bags to see what was in there, I don't even remember packing them. For the past couple of days, I'd just been taking advantage of the supplies here, why go through my own supply when I'm surrounded by food?

I crawled over to my bag and unzipped the largest section of it, turning it over to dump out all of its contents over the floor. I didn't care that it made noise; nothing and no one stumbled upon this place yet so I don't give a fuck.

Let's see:

Phone.

Food.

Cigarettes? Do I even smoke? I guess I do now.

Other miscellaneous items…I kept digging through the contents of the bag until I reached the bottom and found a note which was addressed to my name. Okay…that's a bit weird. I thought I packed my own bag, but I guess I'm wrong.

I unfolded the neat little piece of paper and squinted to read the small, delicate handwriting.

Something about someone being sorry and how this 'Jane' will miss me.

Who the hell is Jane?

* * *

><p><strong>September 5, 2010<strong>

I haven't been able to sleep the past couple of days. Which is understandable really, since it's pretty much the apocalypse, but every night for the past week or so I've been waking up screaming or crying. But each time I've woken up in pain and all sweaty.

I keep having these dreams – no nightmares, of me going through absolute hell. I know what my brain is trying to tell me, or well, remind me. When I got knocked upside the head it must've messed up my memories.

I'm well aware that these memories exist, it's just putting the pieces together is what's so damn hard. Another thing is the pain I'm waking up with every night or morning, this killer pain that shoots up my forearm and the feeling of guilt that settles in the pit of my stomach afterwards. I can't explain it, my dreams can't explain it. I've checked my arm several times as well and there's nothing anomalous about it. There's a faded bite mark that resembles more of a dog bite than anything, probably from me being a stupid reckless child, and even if it were something else it's not in any of my dreams.

It's starting to freak me the fuck out.

* * *

><p><strong>September 6, 2010<strong>

No sleep, no surprise.

Another dream.

Yesterday, I used these nightmares to my advantage; I started writing down what had been happening so that it could help me piece the puzzle together.

But first, I'm going to eat. I dragged myself out of my corner I'd set up and made my way to the stack of food, let's see…chips, cereal, candy, beef jerky, other canned food. I would go for the canned food, but those need to be saved for another time.

I grabbed the box of cereal, wasn't anything special just one of those generic corn flake brands that I needed to get rid of before they spoiled.

I ripped the bag open and dug my hands open to scoop some of the dried flakes. I know, I know, this needs some milk, but the generator died so the milk is most likely spoiled and I really don't want to find out anyways.

Once I finished my sad excuse for a breakfast, I got back to checking my notes on some random notepad I'd found the first day in here. I flipped through the pages several times, it seems that I have enough so far to piece this mystery together once and for all.

The first page talks about being attacked…but when it comes to me it's just blank. It's like I wasn't even there, my dream was just this person getting attacked by this walker. The second page is about being locked in a room with someone who's infected but there was nothing about getting out. I don't even remember how I got out of that room; in my dream it's just me being stuck with this girl. This girl I kept seeing in my dreams…

The third and fourth page are about me escaping the house for some reason, I mean I know it was probably because I was in danger but reading it makes my stomach sink to the floor and my nose sting.

Why isn't anything coming back to me? Why can't I fucking remember anything? Who is this girl who keeps barging into my dreams? Who keeps writing notes to me? Why is she in my head?

Out of frustration, I threw the notepad across the store. This was a waste of my fucking time.

I'm so pissed off right now. But I'm going to stay seated on the floor because I know if I got up right now I would probably break something on my fucking head. Maybe that would help me remember.

My head started to ring from the migraine that was coming on, that's super. Just what I needed!

I clutched my forehead with both my hands, hoping that the strong grip would make the pain go away, make all my problems go away.

* * *

><p><strong>September 7, 2010<strong>

"Jane!"

I quickly sat up and rubbed my temples out of confusion. I wasn't sweaty, my chest wasn't heaving, I didn't even wake up screaming or crying. Instead, I yelled out a name.

And then I started laughing. Not laughing cause I was losing it, not laughing cause I remembered a funny joke, I laughed because I didn't have a nightmare!

But on the other hand I yelled out a name.

"Jane." I said again to myself, it sounded all too familiar to me.

"Jane. Jane. Jane." I whispered to myself, Jane was important. She had to be.

I crawled out of my sleeping space and to my bag to pull out the note I found a couple days earlier, signed by Jane.

I narrowed my eyes at the note as I read the name over and over again.

I could feel my eyes water and tears begin to fall on the note, but I didn't necessarily feel sadness. In fact, I felt joy.

I now know who Jane is.

* * *

><p><strong>September 8, 2010<strong>

The more I concentrated, the more that came back.

I was now finally able to put (at least most) of the story together, some parts were blank, which I assumed to be the most traumatizing memories (that I'll probably keep having dreams of). I don't even know how I made it this far, to be honest.

When I woke up from getting knocked unconscious, it was funny that I didn't remember the past couple of weeks but I remembered my memories from when I was younger and a lot of memories from when I was in basic training and AIT, which was pretty recent. Just these series on incidents were the hardest to recall, and I could assume that it was from losing Jane that my brain locked away most of my story.

My heart ached at these memories I could recall, and now I kind of wish that I hadn't remembered them, but it really does beat having the nightmares each night and not knowing what they mean.

There were still some unanswered questions though…in my dreams there's always another face there, but a blank one, someone I couldn't remember. An example was that one morning waking up and hearing someone being eaten downstairs, but not knowing who it was or why they mattered.

It was another mystery that would be solved another day I suppose. All that mattered now was that I (mostly) remembered Jane.

* * *

><p><strong>September 9, 2010<strong>

It's pretty early right now, and in the span of about five minutes or so, I've decided to leave this place. I know what you're thinking, it's pretty fucking stupid to make a decision like that in a couple of minutes. But something just doesn't feel right, and I made it clear earlier that I was bound to leave at some point, and that point just happens to be today.

I feel like I've been here long enough, I've used enough supplies and I need to leave some in case if some other band of survivors were to stumble upon this place, well, actually I'd call it a safehouse. Yeah, that sounds better.

I pulled the flimsy blanket off of me and stretched on the floor to work the ache out of my muscles. I need to exercise more.

I emptied the contents of my bag once more to check that everything that needed to be there was there. I packed some other things from the store in there, and I laughed at how happy I was when I found razors the second day. It may have been the end of the world, but I still wanted to have clean shaven legs.

I replaced the expired cans in my bag with the other ones in the store, but also made sure to throw away the expired ones, of course. I grabbed several bottles of water from the shelves and threw them in my bag. I pretty much had everything I needed.

Wait.

I need a map.

At the front of the store near the door (the one place I avoided the most) there was a tourist rack with all kinds of maps of the area, among other souvenirs. Who the hell wants to reminded of their time spent in Georgia?

I quietly tip-toed near the door, since it was basically a window to inside the convenient store and even though I knew there weren't any walkers around that didn't mean I could make a big ruckus, and grabbed several maps, whichever were in hands reach.

I grabbed about four or so, one was solely of Atlanta, the other was of the state of Georgia, and the other two were just of the country. It was good enough.

What else should I grab before leaving?

I thought hard to myself, I suppose I could leave a note to any other survivors. I really don't know where this note leaving habit came from…

The pen kept slipping out of my hand, as if I didn't know how to write. It's been a while, but regardless, it was starting to annoy the hell out of me and it was discouraging me from writing a note at all.

But I had to do it, I know if I were going to some safehouse I'd want to know if it were worth my time staying or not.

_The generator died, but there's still water around. I ate all of the perishable goods, so all the canned food (which there's plenty) is still here. I stockpiled them on the shelves, they should be good for another two years or so._

_The water is still running for some reason, but who cares about the reason, it's still running. I left the keys to lock the door under the mat._

_Good luck_

I put on my backpack, which felt a little heavy since I haven't carried it in two weeks, and grabbed the keys on the counter by the door. Before opening the door, I peeked outside quickly to assess any potential problems.

Coast was clear, so I jammed the key in the door and unlocked it.

I was nearly blinded by the sunlight, from being locked inside all day. The heat nearly killed me as well, but it was nice finally being outside. I turned around to tape the note to the door, hoping that any potential wind wouldn't carry it away, and placed the keys under the mat, just as I had promised in the note.

Goodbye, random convenient store. I hope to never see you again.

* * *

><p>My legs ache. And I hate bitching, but my legs hurt. I should've exercised more while I was holed up in that place.<p>

I really need to find someone or some weapon and fast, because when it starts getting dark, I am so fucked. And not just plain fucked, but royally fucked.

I guess the only good thing is that I hadn't encountered many walkers, but that was because I didn't make much progress so I was still in the outskirts of Atlanta.

I eyed the signs on the road carefully as I passed them, keeping note of anything that could be useful.

This had to be a sign from God, it just had to be, it was a sign for a police station up the road ahead.

Now, if I were really lucky, the place would be abandoned. And if God hated me, then the place would be surrounded by walkers.

I'll take the chance.

* * *

><p>Maps are really good at hiding valuable information, such as the fact that a police station is in the middle of a city. A small city, but still a city. With people. And by people, I mean walkers.<p>

I need to keep my cool, I can see a few of them wandering around mindlessly in the streets, and they can't see me. If I can make a mad dash to the back door, I'll be fine.

I would count the number of walkers, but that'll only freak me out. It doesn't matter how many there are, what matters is that I get to that back door that was basically calling my name.

I tightened the straps on my backpack to keep it closer on my back and stretched my legs some more, last thing I want is to get a cramp.

After stretching, I crouched and made a mad dash across the street to a parked car. Oh God, if you're hearing me, please let there be no car alarm.

I peeked over and eyed the walkers some more, they continued to wander aimlessly. Good.

The door was now only fifteen or so feet away, and if I make one more run I'll make it.

I tightened the straps again, just in case, and could feel my thighs burning from crouching, but I ignored it. I stood up slowly and ran as fast as my legs could take me to the door.

When I reached the back door, I could feel my heart beating in my ears and gripped the door handle, making sure not to make any noise. It would really suck if I got this far, only for a walker to notice me.

I held my breath as I twisted the handle down slowly, and heard it click, it was unlocked! I opened the door slowly and closed it the same way.

I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief and start doing backflips out of joy, but I needed to keep it together in case there were any walkers in here.

Before taking any more steps though, I turned to lock the door behind me.

Hallelujah.

The armory couldn't be too far from here, and from the looks of the place, it looked abandoned.

I stood in the same place for several minutes to listen for anything.

Nothing.

No sounds.

Absolute silence.

I was alone.

I read the signs in the hallway that showed a map of the station, the armory was only down the hallway and around a corner. Awesome.

I walked my tired legs to the armory, only to find it locked. Sweet Jesus are you kidding me?

I mean it makes sense, but how in the hell am I supposed to unlock this? Fuck my life.

I kneeled down to examine the lock further, but my hands froze as I felt the cold barrel of a gun pressed to the back of my head.

* * *

><p><em>I'm sorry this took so long guys! This chapter was a bit quick and all over the place, but it was to show how her mind is working at the moment. Thanks for reading guys and don't forget to leave a review!<em>

_The companion story is up, folks! It's called Blood Ties and is in my favorites, please check it out and let em know what you think!  
><em>


	8. Chapter 8

_Holeintheearth: __thanks, appreciate it_

_Doctorkaitlyn: __that's good, I was worried no one was able to find it. _

_Padme4000: __thanks for your input_

_Chlexfan10: __I'm glad you're enjoying my story! I can't wait to see what happens between either, since I don't really have an outline for the story ;P_

_Now back to Rick and Isabelle…_

* * *

><p>I don't even know what's going to be inside, but I do know that I'm probably going to regret this. But I don't care. I have to know what's in here, I have to know my story.<p>

I pressed my ear to the door to see if there was anything inside that I could hear, nothing. It was silent.

I started to put pressure on the door, but it was jammed with something. Before I could shove my shoulder and all my weight into it, I felt a grip on my forearm.

"What?" I asked, annoyed.

"I don't think you'll like what's inside…" Rick told me out of nervousness.

"If you don't want to come with me just go wait in your car!" I shot back, "Just give me a couple minutes."

Rick shrugged and turned the other way with his arms crossed, I know he doesn't want to go back to the car, instead he wants come with me to make sure anything bad doesn't happen. Regardless, I wish he wasn't being so fucking over protective.

My weight was shoved into the door several times and with one last shove it swung open, I almost lost my balance, but the over protective southern gentleman behind just so happened to catch me before I fell.

I shook his hand off of me and continued to move forward into the living room.

I was cautious with my steps too, I may be naïve but I'm not stupid.

I took several more steps towards the living room, and to my surprise…

It was empty.

I _swear_ this was the house. I froze in my tracks to try to at least absorb the surroundings in some more, but nothing really seemed to help. I mean sure, the house was looking a little chaotic, but it was probably because this house had been looted before.

I turned to leave, only to see Rick looking around the place. I admit, I felt a little disappointed, but at the same time relieved that there weren't any dead bodies in here or something equally horrifying…it'll be hard having to accept that I'll never really know the truth (since there's _no_ fucking way I'm coming back here) – I suppose some doors are better left closed.

Rick caught me standing still and staring at him, "Anything?" He asked with concern written over his face. I'll also admit that I was a little bitchy when earlier, he didn't deserve that…

But I went ahead and gave a, I guess you could call, short and blunt response. And by response I merely shrugged my shoulders, childish, yeah, but I didn't know what to say.

"Do you want to check the rest of the house?" He asked me slowly, as if he were waiting to see how I'd react.

"No." I replied while pushing past him to get back outside, "Let's just go."

* * *

><p>I get that the apocalypse was happening at the time, but do people really feel the need to clog up the freeways? For fuck's sake, this was getting old. It'll take <em>centuries<em> to get to Atlanta from the route we were on.

I never really enjoyed the sight of the countryside either, which was where we were currently driving. The smell of cow manure never really appealed to me.

I guess we were lucky though, since there weren't that many cows around, therefore less smells of cow shit. But at the same time that sucks since that eliminates any chances of having a nice juicy stea-

"How old are you, Isabelle?" Well that's odd. I was actually fine with the silence.

"Twenty five," I replied, "I'll be twenty six in about a month or so…" I paused for a brief moment to playfully narrow my eyes at him out of suspicion, "Why?"

"What? Can't get to know the person I'll be stuck with for a while?"

Oh, so he's gonna be like that.

I pretended to be hurt by scoffing loudly and placing my hand over my chest, "Stuck with?"

He didn't make eye contact, the bastard; he just smiled and looked at the road ahead. I huffed and crossed my arms, "You're an ass, Rick."

"And you're cute when you get mad."

I was taken aback; did he just call me cute? Was he flirting with me or was this a dream? Or maybe even a nightmare? "Cute? Keep saying shit like that and I'll be gorgeous in a second!"

I couldn't hold back my chuckle as I said that, I gotta thank the Internet for giving me great comebacks. We laughed together for a while, and the silence returned. But I decided to change that, he's the one who wanted to talk.

"How old are _you_?" I asked, now the tables are turned!

"Turned 30 about three months ago."

"You said you were in your thirties though!"

"I am."

"Being thirty isn't in your thirties!"

He gave out a cute laugh, "I'm sorry, are you the age police?"

I scoffed, "Hell yeah I am, just give me your badge."

I leaned over to reach for his badge, only for him to slap my wrist away, "Not when I'm driving."

I rolled my eyes, "Oh come on, not like the walkers will come after you if you hit their car."

"Now you're a damn scientist?" He a (quite sexy) crooked grin when he looked at me to see my reaction.

"Keep your eyes on the damn road, Rick!" I nagged.

"Of course you'd say that…" He trailed off to go back to driving, while I stretched in my seat and closed my eyes to enjoy the little moments of peace I'll have for a while…

"What do you miss the most?"

I yawned obnoxiously, "Oh my goooood, are we playing twenty fucking questions? Or are you trying to get something out of me to arrest me, Rick?"

"Yes and no."

"In that order?"

"That's for you to decide." He couldn't hide his smirk when replying, most likely because in the span of about half a day he already figured out how to push my buttons.

"Smartass." I mumbled to myself, closing my eyes again.

He chuckled again in response, I was actually starting to enjoy his company now even after talking to him for about ten or fifteen minutes. It was nice to not actually be alone for once, and to see him smiling. I hope he enjoys my company as much as I'm starting to enjoy his.

Probably not though, he'd been awake for a day so he's not used to being alone. I was, which probably explains why I was so bitchy to him earlier.

I feel kinda bad now, now that I think about it. But, I mean you can't blame me though, right? I'd been on my own, for how long…? Two or three weeks? I was used to having only to take care of myself and myself _only_. Having someone else around…it just seems like a hassle.

Not that I'm saying Rick is a hassle, I know for a fact that he can take care of himself, and he's everything _but_ a hassle. He's a nice guy, a little too nice to be able to put up with me, but still.

I continued to stare out the window, thinking about what I'd be doing if I were home right now. Probably nothing.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard Rick mutter something under his breath, followed by the car stopping. Awesome, can't get any better than this.

I sighed, "No more gas?"

He didn't answer, but instead turned to the back seat to get a gas tank and his duffle bag of guns. I took a glance ahead of us and saw an old, worn down barn. Does he really think there's someone there?

"You comin'?" He asked as he stood in front of the car waiting for me, "Yeah! Gimme a second."

I hastily grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder and caught up to him.

We both walked down the road, it wasn't that far, and the closer we got to the house the more I abandoned the idea of someone being in there. It just looked empty, and creepy. You get the feeling I'm talking about?

There wasn't a car in the driveway, the bushes weren't trimmed very much (still looked better than most places) and the grass was growing out a bit. I mean, it wasn't like a haunted house, but it looked pretty empty.

"Hello? Anyone in there?" Rick called out, "Police officer out here. Can I borrow some gas?"

I waited behind, even if there were any survivors there I really wasn't in a friend making mood, I was more annoyed than anything. Second time in a month I've been in a shitty situation that involved a car.

"Hello?" He called out again, this time going closer to the door and knocking on the window. I dropped my bag and kept my left hand on my gun, no way was I going to let him go in alone.

I made my way to the front door next to him, and he peeked inside again.

"I'll take a peek inside the other window, Rick." He nodded to me and I left the door to move to an area with a larger window.

As I got closer to the wide window, I could barely smell the scent of dead bodies, and I pinched my nose to try to get rid of that smell. God, I need nose bleach. I don't even know if I _want _to know what's inside.

I leaned forward anyways, and the sight was something I wouldn't be able to forget, a man with the top half of his head blown off and his (what I assumed to be) wife on the floor with an equal wound to her head. I don't care how much training the Army taught me, the scent and sight of decomposing bodies is, and will always be, sickening.

There was something written on the wall too, in blood. I couldn't read it though because I could feel my eyesight getting blurry and becoming lightheaded. I could feel my stomach lurch at the sight, and before I knew it I was bent over and expelling what little breakfast I had earlier out of my mouth.

I gagged as my stomach continued to empty its contents, when I could feel Rick's hand rubbing my back in comfort. Lovely, I'm sure this is super attractive.

As soon as I was done blowing chunder, I pulled out a handkerchief from my back pocket and wiped my mouth. I need some water and just about every breath mint I can find.

I cleared my throat and sat on the ground, "Sorry about that," my throat creaked due to its sensitivity from my stomach acid, "I-I'm not really used to that kinda shit."

He nodded his head in understanding and took a peek inside the window, flinched a little and turned back to me, "Come on." He leaned forward with his arm extended towards me. I grabbed his hand to help myself up, enjoying the feeling of his rough calloused skin for a moment and letting my mind wander off for a second…

I cleared my throat again and we both made our way to the backyard. I reached into my bag to see if I could find anything to help my rancid breath, mints, gum, anything. I took a little sip of water, which soothed my throat pretty well and with enough bad words and pleading I found a small tin of mints in a small compartment of my bag. I love you, Jane.

We sat for a while, while I rubbed my forehead due to the small tension headache that was coming on. There was a brown and pale yellow station wagon out here, but no key. So we just sat together under a tree to relax and think for a moment.

"How are you feelin'?" He asked softly, "My head feels a little light, but I'll live." I tried to reassure him with a weak smile.

"There's a guest house in the backyard, maybe we could spend the night here and leave in the morning. You need to rest, Isabelle."

I gulped, "Stay…here? I'm fine, Rick, really, I just threw up because of the smell…"

He reached over and pressed the back of his hand on my forehead, "Your skin looks dry and you look sick."

I rolled my eyes, "Thanks for saying I look like shit in a polite way." I swatted his hand away, "Really I'm fine. We don't have to stay."

"You're sick." He sternly insisted.

"Am not."

He sighed and faced forward again, and I gave in, "Fine. We can stay, but I won't sleep the whole time, Rick."

He grabbed his bag and made his way to the guest house, "But you probably will…" he muttered under his breath.

I smiled to myself – I actually look forward to our little "sleepover" tonight.

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><p><em>Shout out to my amazing readers who added this story to their alerts and favorites! Please guys, take some time and leave feedback, tell me what you likedon't like, it's all I want for Christmas, really!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Guccileopard: __wow! I was a bit unsure on if I were keeping Rick in character, but you really helped me believe I was doing a good job! Thanks and don't be shy on submitting!_

_Chlexfan10: __I hope to see some walker action soon :3_

_Doctorkaitlyn: __:D thankies, glad to see their chemistry is developing well :D_

_Padme4000:__ it's fine don't worry about it glad you're submitting a character, need to decide what I'll do with her but I'll let you know :)_

_Leyshla Gisel: thanks for your review, sorry I didn't put this earlier! My bad! forgive me c:  
><em>

_Everyone else: thanks for reading! Don't know where I'd be without my wonderful readers :) _

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><p>The guest house wasn't too bad for…well a guest house. I almost forgot we were in an apocalypse for a second, the place looked pretty comfortable. Part of me wanted to just wait the whole thing out here with Rick, but he has his family to look for and I have mine, that is, if they even stay in the same place.<p>

Anyways, back to the guest house. Tiny, but comfortable. It has a small bedroom with one bed (_of course, _how cliché), a bathroom and even a small kitchenette, guess that means that we won't have to go to the main house to cook or eat, what a relief. Don't want to go back there after what happened last time, I nearly shuddered at the thought.

The water was still running, not for long though, only long enough for both us to take a shower. _Not _together, freak. I was happy to take a shower again in the same day, after a couple of hours being in the Georgia heat you start to feel disgusting and _everything_ sticks to you. I know, I know, I should be used to this kind of heat since I grew up in the LA area…but here! It's humid! Over there it's dry and hot, everything here is just way too sticky.

I set my bag at the foot of the bed and then jumped on it to stretch my body out, god I really needed that. I lazily reached my arm into my bag to pull out my dog tags and sling them around my neck. I made sure to keep them off during the day in case a walker would get close and try to pull me into them. I would put them on at night though because it was like my safety blanket.

The small jingling caused Rick to turn his head and raise his eyebrow, "You're in the army?" He asked, and I remembered that I freaked out before instead of answering his question about my background, pretty professional, right?

"Yep. Well, I only made it through basic and then the shitpocalypse happened…" I mumbled and sat up to make eye contact with him, "Sorry for not bringing it up earlier." I continued to look at him and he looked lost for words and I didn't know whether to laugh or be offended, "You look surprised." I said while trying to hold back the smile creeping up on my face.

"You just…I didn't expect that."

I raised an eyebrow and sat up straighter, "Is that a bad thing?"

He shook his head, like he was worried he offended me, it was cute how someone like me could make him get so fidgety, "No, course not. What branch?"

"Army, duh," I rolled my eyes and scoffed playfully, "other branches can't handle me."

He chuckled to himself, "What were you gonna be?"

"Thirty-one bravo, military police, MP. Whatever you wanna call it, most of the other cool ones are closed off to women and I wanted the closest thing to combat, so I chose MP. I joined after I got my masters because I figured the things I'd learn would help me out in the long run."

Rick sat on the chair in the corner of the room, clearly showing he was interested in hearing more about me, which excited me because usually people fall asleep by now. "What'd you go to school for?"

I propped myself on my elbow to become more comfortable and be able to face him while talking, "Got a masters in physics and math," I let out a small laugh, "feels pretty useless now but hey, it's an education. At least I can figure out which walker will eat me first if x is running at me from ten miles and y is walking at me from five miles…" I trailed off to think about where this conversation would be heading soon, not that I minded talking to him, just I was hoping he wouldn't ask too much about my time in Georgia with Jane and everything. Not because I was still sensitive on the subject, it's because I still don't remember some of it.

We spent about another hour or so in the room, just us sitting and talking about ourselves and our past. He shared some things about his family and growing up in Georgia, among some other memories, like becoming a sheriff's deputy. I told him how my dad was a police officer too, my mom's a doctor and how my brother is in the army like me, except he's special forces and that's the reason he thinks he's so much better than me. I tried not to delve too far into my past since I find myself to be pretty boring, but regardless, we went back and forth, sharing several laughs and taking advantage of the little moments of peace we'd have before having to set foot back into hell.

When night time arrived, we both decided to stay outside to stay on watch together until about midnight or so. Since it was going to be our only night there, we decided to just have one stay up for five hours and then switch off so we'd both get enough sleep to leave early tomorrow, sounded like a decent plan to me, anything to get some sleep. I never could get that much at that horrible convenient store since I was constantly being plagued by those god damn nightmares.

I sat next to Rick, taking in the cool air and relaxing with one leg propped on the bench we were on and the other dangling lazily. Sleep was starting to overcome me, but I wanted to stay out here as long as I could, the thought of leaving him out here by himself kind of bothered me, and what bothered me ever more was that I was actually starting to care about him too. I felt like a teenager again, but I couldn't help it. He was the one kind enough to let me stay with him, making _me_ the hassle. Also, he's caring, a good listener, attractive, more than what a girl could want.

But honestly, the last thing I want is my childish thoughts ruining what we have here, I can't afford for things to be awkward since this whole thing is a matter of life or death, y'know, since we're living in an undead world. We can't afford to let emotions get in the way, as tempting as it is.

On the other hand though, it could bring us closer…wait, nah. It's probably a little school girl crush, nothing more, just a random attraction to a random man, it'll end sooner or later and I'm just overthinking this and I think my brain is going to fry and I don't even know anymore and what if I do say something about liking him, wait who said something about liking him?

Breathe, Isabelle!

I can't believe I just had a run on sentence in my own thoughts.

God damn it, I can't live like this. I can't be in a constant battle with my thoughts, or else he'll start to think I'm a schizophrenic or just plain crazy or something equally bad.

There I go again!

Damn it, Isabelle! Hold yourself together! You can't let such a sexy- I mean _average_ man get to you like this! What's wrong with you?

I need to say something to him, at least an apology for being bitchy or maybe even try to flirt with him. No, no, flirting won't work. I'd probably end up saying something stupid or humiliating…

"Rick," I began, needing to interrupt my stupid, distracting thoughts, he turned his head in response and looked at me with those beautiful baby blue ey- agh shut up, brain! I turned my head to look in front of me to not get distracted and continued saying what I was going to say, "Uhh- I just wanted to tell you that…" I paused for a second to recollect my thoughts and rubbed my warm and sweaty palms together to try to keep my nerves together, "I know you probably got this hint earlier, but I just wanted to say it. I want to help you find your family." I said slowly to make sure I wouldn't somehow stumble over my words like a dumbass.

He sat up straighter, "What about yours?" he replied softly.

I shrugged and gave him a half smile in response, "I know where they're at, so I'm fine. 'Sides you know my brother's SF so he'll be fine."

He gave me a small smile in return, which made me damn near melt, and said, "Thanks, Isabelle, I really appreciate it."

"No problem, I just…wanted you to know that you're not alone in this." I turned to him and mustered up the courage to place my hand over his on the bench, "I'm here for you, Rick." I said softly, eagerly awaiting his response while at the same time hoping he wouldn't pull back and be like "eww!", but that doesn't seem too likely.

He didn't say anything, or even flinch away from my touch, surprisingly. He softly took my hand and held it for a moment as if he were thinking of a way to respond.

"I'm here for you too, Isabelle." He finally responded, while still holding on to my hand as I sat there in silence, preventing myself from doing backflips by rubbing his palm with my thumb, a sweet gesture, right? Not _that _creepy.

His hand twitched slightly and he removed it from mine, I tried my best to not show that it hurt a little so I gave him a small smile. He turned away and rubbed his head with his other hand, and so I scooted closer to him, "Are you okay?" I asked with my hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Rick is a bad liar, and I'm sure he's aware of that as well but usually he tries better than that, "Come on, something's up."

"It's just a little headache." He insisted.

Clearly _just_ a headache, "Rick, you suck at lying. And you know I'll keep nagging you."

He kept rubbing his forehead, ah I see, it's a tension headache. I slid off the bench and kneeled in front of him, "It's a tension headache, I get them all the time."

I motioned him to lean forward and was about to give I guess what you could call a "forehead massage" but I told him first, "Don't worry, my hands are clean!" I wiggled my fingers to emphasize my point of maintaining good hygiene even in the apocalypse.

I leaned forward and placed my hands on his forehead, rubbing the muscle, "Yeah, it happens when you're stressed or you start to squint a lot, like this," I squinted my eyes and made a Donald Trump face to try to make him feel a little better.

He responded with a small laugh, I could tell what I was doing with my hands was helping and I kept talking so it wouldn't be awkwardly silent, "So basically…your muscles constrict…which is where the pain comes from, so you gotta rub it to loosen the muscles or it'll keep hurting..." I sincerely hope I'm not sounding too sexual.

"Does that feel better?" My hands were still in the same spot, on his face and I slid them down to his cheeks, enjoying the feeling of his clean shaven skin against my palms.

"Yeah a lot actually, thanks." He mumbled while taking a quick peek at my hands and then returning his glance to me, I could barely feel my breath hitch in my throat.

This is awkward. We're _thisclose_ and I'm not sure what to do.

We looked at each other for a moment longer, and I patted both cheeks and stood back up quickly to go to bed, "Well good. I-er goodnight. Wake me up when…we have to..y'know switch shifts." I quickly slammed the door and made my way to the bed.

What the hell just happened?

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><p><strong>September 10, 2010<strong>

Can't sleep. It's sort of because of a bad nightmare I had, which I've gotten used to, but I also feel like ass. It's probably slight dehydration since I haven't been drinking as much water I should've been. Damn, so Rick was right, I am sick.

God damn this room for being so stuffy. I kept turning in the bed, hoping that I'd be able to find a comfortable position to fall asleep but the feeling like shit part and the stickiness weren't helping at all.

I need fresh air.

I dragged myself out of the bed and squinted to try to see the time on the clock, it was hard to tell due to my terrible night vision, but I assumed it was probably 2 or 3 in the morning since Rick hadn't woken me up yet.

I would open the window by the bed, but due to my intense fear of the dark and hours up of playing both Amnesia and Dead Space, there's absolutely no fucking way I'm looking out that window.

Which, of course, leave me the option of going outside with Rick. Why am I so shitty at making decisions?

I got over it anyways, and crossed my fingers that he quickly forgot our awkward little moment as quickly as I wish I had.

The door creaked slightly when I applied a little pressure, and I opened it more and enjoyed the fresh cool breeze of the night. I stepped out and saw that Rick wasn't even there, and I swear I could feel my heart jump out of my chest.

I rushed back into the guest house to get my gun and went back outside again, keeping my gun gripped in my hand tightly and praying that there wasn't anything out here.

"Rick?" I whispered aloud while assuring myself that he wouldn't just leave me here alone because he knows I'd be a bigger threat than the walkers themselves.

Maybe he went to go take a piss? I circled around the guest house a couple of times and he wasn't anywhere.

He could also be at the main house…

But there's no fucking way I'm going there.

I placed both hands on my gun and tried to stop my arm from shaking as I made my way towards the main house, in case any walker decided to jump out and pounce me.

I yelped as I felt something grip my waist tightly and shove me into the wall, it was a tall shadow that I could barely make out, "Isabelle! What are you doing out here?" I recognized the voice immediately and I almost wanted to slap him for scaring the shit out of me like that.

"Where the hell were you?" I retorted angrily, "I looked everywhere and you were playing fuckin' hide and seek with me!"

"Isabelle, please keep it down." He let go of my waist and I holstered my gun while slowing my breath down, "I heard something from the main house and I wanted to make sure everything was in check over there."

"You could have just woken me up! You can't just leave me there alone without saying anything!" I exclaimed despite his previous request of staying quiet, I wasn't going to keep it down! He left me there and if a walker attacked I would've been on my own!

He sighed, "Look, I'm sorry, Isabelle," He placed both his hands on my shoulders to rub them tenderly, "I promise I wouldn't let _anything_ happen to you." He assured me, but I still stared at the ground.

"I couldn't sleep." I began softly, "I had a bad nightmare and I felt like shit so I came out here, b-but you weren't there and I got worried and-"

We both turned our heads as we were interrupted by not only the sound of a wooden door being broken through, but by the several recognizable moans and grunts of walkers…

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><p><em>Let's see what happens next chapter! Sorry for the lazybad chapter guys, I'm not good at the sappy shit. :D Don't forget to leave some feedback my loves!_

_Totally random embarrassing moment: I was checking the wikia to see what Rick's official job title was and I read that he lived in KY and I'm like "oh shit" and freaked out so I hope you guys don't mind that I "messed" that up because in the comics he's from KY and in the show he's from GA, and so I'll be going with the tv canon. Wow, sorry for the run on sentence!_


	10. Chapter 10

_Leyshla Gisel:__ thank you! :-)_

_Guccileopard: __I want you to suffer from my cliffhangers :-)_

_Doctorkaitlyn: __i am pretty excited to show you guys what happens next :-D_

_Chlexfan10: __you are awesome, thanks for the super kickass reviews :-D_

_Padme4000:__ I'm glad you enjoy my sappy shit (-:_

_On with the story!_

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><p>"Shit, shit, shit." I muttered and stared back at Rick, "What do we do?"<p>

He gripped his gun and turned the corner to go to the front of the house, "It's probably one or two, Isabelle, I can handle it."

I leaned forward quickly to grab his shoulder, "I'm sure you can, but I'll go with you." I turned around to see if I could find anything do use instead of shooting, I really didn't want the gunshots to alert any other walkers in the area.

"Isabelle, are you sure?" He asked and I nodded, "I'll be fine, pinky swear."

I told him to wait a second, since I found a small piece of wood sticking out of the near the bottom of the house. Kicking it several times, a thin plank broke off - it'd be good enough for a couple of hits, at least.

I went in front of him, ducked, and motioned him to follow behind. I wanted to stay in front so I could take out any walkers with the wooden plank, and as a last resort, Rick could use his gun.

Staying low, I reached for the handle, cursing under my breath as my hand kept shaking so much that I could barely get a good grip; keep your nerves together, Isabelle!

Turning the handle slowly, I tried my best to keep quiet as the vile smell of decomposing flesh hit my nostrils. As soon as I stepped further inside, I paused to try to let my eyes adjust to the darkness, which only really helped a little.

We reached the kitchen, with me still in front, when I noticed a hammer on the counter. Perfect. I know that'll last longer than this flimsy plank. I snatched it from the counter and checked the rest of the kitchen - a dead end.

Rick and I both turned our heads when we heard some shuffling upstairs, and with a death grip on my hammer, we both began to move upstairs.

"Let me take the hammer, you don't have to go up there," Rick whispered.

"No, I can take care of this. There shouldn't be that many…" I trailed off when I could make hear the hiss of a walker down the hallway.

I charged down the hallway, better to get this done and over with, and jammed the claw of the hammer into the walker's head. I was grateful that it didn't put up much of a fight, since the it sunk into its skull, causing it to drop to the floor.

But I wanted to make sure it'd stay dead.

I turned the hammer, using the blunt edge and smashed it into the skull multiple times. I wanted to make sure it'd stay down and I wanted to put it out of its misery. I didn't even care at the mess I was making, wasn't my house anyways.

I had to stop though, as soon as I could hear Rick rushing over to tell me it was dead, that I didn't need to keep bludgeoning it.

He was right, I didn't have to keep going, it was going to stay down. But I needed to vent. I needed to hurt _something_ -to kill _something._

I stopped and dropped my hammer to the side of the body. I could only hear the low whistle of the night and Rick's faint breaths, we were actually alone now. It was only one walker. _Only_. Sheesh, I sound disappointed.

I picked up my hammer and stood back up with Rick, I was going to need to wash this shirt. It was soaked in the walker's coagulated blood, brain matter, and some of its skull fragments - not exactly the prettiest sight.

There must have been a window cracked open, since the door to a bedroom kept swinging due to a slight breeze.

I cautiously stepped in the room, with my grip still tight on my hammer.

The window wasn't open.

It was broken.

Someone was trying to break out. In fact, more than one person was locked in the room. That's why the parents killed themselves, they couldn't live with the guilt that their kids were infected and they couldn't do anything about it.

Only problem was, there was only _one_ walker.

Memories of being locked in a room with Jane came flooding back and my head was feeling dizzy. I lost my step, my knees buckled and the wall behind me broke my fall. I could hear Rick calling my name, but it sounded muffled, I only sat on the ground with my knees to my chest.

I didn't want to react like this, I really didn't, because I know I was scaring Rick. Thing is, I couldn't help it. I wasn't in control anymore.

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><p>I could feel Rick kneeling in front of me, hearing him repeating my name over and over again.<p>

"Isabelle!" He called again, with one hand on my shoulder, "Isabelle, are you okay?"

"Get me out of here." I pleaded.

And with that, he hooked his arm into mine and brought me up. With his arm slung around my waist and my arm hooked around his shoulders for support, he led me back to the guest house and brought me back inside.

"Thanks." I mumbled quickly before running off to the bathroom. Before he could follow or say anything, I slammed the door and locked it. I can deal with him later.

I held my stomach, worried that I was going to throw up again from this unsettling, queasy feeling I had. I waited for several moments, but nothing happened. Well, that's a start, I suppose.

Didn't mean I felt any better though, I was getting a headache so I moved to the sink to splash some cold water on my face. I took in the cold feeling, enjoying how it contrasted with my sweaty skin.

I might as well take a quick glance in my mirror since I'm in here, even though last time I checked was yesterday. Again, I didn't look _too_ different, I expected a little more darkness under my eyes, but they weren't as sunken as they were before - a sign that my sleep habits were improving somewhat. Same with the cheeks, I remember the first week (from what I could remember), I was a little gaunt.

I was pretty annoyed with my hair though, I used to have a shorter Mia Farrow-esque cut, and now it was starting to grow out. It wasn't too much of a change, a little messier and shaggier and all I'd have to do is trim the back so it wouldn't turn into some sort of mullet, but it was still manageable. I feel like I really lucked out by keeping short hair though. I really need to fix my brows though.

I turned to my side, wondering if my body had changed much. Lost a couple pounds, I was glad I wasn't getting the ribs-sticking-out look yet; I was still mostly in shape. Wouldn't hurt to fill out a little more, but that'll be highly unlikely.

I opened the door and was met face to face with Rick, with one arm extended to keep me in there.

His eyes said everything; he was tired of being kept in the dark – which was completely understandable. This was the second time he experienced a panic attack from me, so it makes sense for me to tell him at least _something_.

"Let me, uhh…" I tripped over my words, unsure of what to say, "I need to change my shirt." I gestured for him to get out of my way and walked over to my bag to grab a clean shirt. "I'll talk to you outside."

Rick left the house without a word, something I sincerely appreciated about him, the fact that he'll give space when asked to. He's really done more than enough for me, and explaining what the fuck is wrong with me is the least I could do.

I smoothed out my shirt before taking a seat next to him on the bench. "Hey." I said quietly.

"Look, Isabelle," he started, "You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to share. I just need to know if you're okay."

"I-I am. I am okay. A little sick, but that's from the dehydration. _Not_ from what happened back there, I swear."

He was about to speak, but I cut in quickly, "I know that's all you're fine with, but I want you to know what's wrong, you deserve to know since we'll be sticking together for some time. For a while, at least."

He nodded for me to continue, so I started at the beginning. I told him why I was in Georgia and most of what I could remember about being at Jane's house: her getting attacked by some crazy man, me being locked in a room with her and leaving her behind when the house was overrun. I made sure to explain that it wasn't necessarily anyone's fault for my panic attack, it was that the scene brought up a repressed memory.

He could hear the guilt in my voice when I explained leaving her house, leaving Jane behind and how badly it was eating me away inside. I know he didn't want to interrupt me, but he did anyways to reassure me that it wasn't my fault and she wasn't Jane anymore. If he'd been someone else, I would've punched them in the jaw; but coming from him just felt right.

As I was telling my story, I don't know who was scooting closer to who, but when I got to the point where I was attacked at the gas station I was already in his arms somehow. Not that I was complaining.

I explained how the attack caused some blank parts in my memory, and found myself shaking when I brought up the frustrations of trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. I couldn't believe this was all spilling out of me though, again if it were any other person I would've told them to fuck off, but this was…easy, relieving.

Neither of us said a word when I was done. I was out of energy, I just didn't want to talk anymore. Wasn't in the mood to move either. I was completely fine being curled up next to him with my arms around me, and I certainly felt a lot better.

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><p><em>I apologize for two things:<em>

_1. My grammar, I've been getting a complaint or two about this, sorry guys. I really try my best since English isn't my first language._

_2. The shortness of the chapter, I haven't been feeling up to par guys, but if it makes you guys feel better I may be able to get another chapter out before/maybe the day of Christmas. In the meantime, you guys should definitely check out a new story, it's a collaboration between me and another author, guccileopard. The link is in my profile, so check it out sometime!_

_Also, thank you to all those who added to alerts, you guys should leave some feedback sometime, don't be shy! I won't bite...I think._

_Don't forget to leave some feedback guys! Also, enjoy your holidays!_


	11. Chapter 11

_I'm sleepy but guess what? I had some pancakes. Life is good._

_Responses to the reviews will be at the end of chapters from now on, but real quick, I love my readers! You guys should have my firstborn!~_

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><p>I woke up in the same position as before, feeling a little stiff. It was much lighter now, I think two or three hours passed. Actually, Rick should be the one going to sleep now.<p>

"Hey, are you feeling better?" I heard him ask me.

"Hey yourself," I replied as I stretched and yawned, "Feeling a lot better, yeah, thanks for last night." Before he could say anything, I gave his shoulder a quick squeeze and continued, "You should go get some sleep."

"Just checking on ya," he said, "Are you su-"

I stood up and grabbed his arm to drag him off the bench, "Yes I'm sure, Rick." I kept trying to pull, but he wouldn't budge.

He put his other hand over mine and laughed, "Alright, alright, I'm going."

Rick was getting up and heading to the door, but I reached out to gently touch his forearm. He stopped to look at me, probably confused, and so I pulled him into a hug.

Yes, a hug. An embrace. Whatever you want to call it, I pulled him into a hug. And I enjoyed every damn second of it, especially when wrapped his arms around me and gave me a gentle squeeze.

"Thanks for everything." I mumbled into his shoulder, and I could tell he was smiling. I guess he really needed to know how much I appreciated him.

We let go of each other and I slid my hands down his shoulders to grab his hands, "Go to bed." I smiled and he rolled his eyes in response, to my surprise. I mean, yeah, he'll laugh here and there, but rolling his eyes? Unexpected but extremely cute, I'll have to admit.

"Fine, I'll go to sleep." He muttered, stepping into the room, "Wake me up if you need anything." He insisted, and I nodded and left the room to let him get some rest.

I plopped down on the bench again, enjoying some of the alone time, but feeling bored already. I don't have the slightest clue on how to waste the next five hours.

* * *

><p>It's been about an hour.<p>

Only an hour.

Look, I know this sounds stupid, but part of me really wants to check out the main house for anything valuable, books, food, maybe even clothes.

But that would make me a hypocrite, right?

I can handle myself though, I took care of that one walker. The house is clear now, the only thing that would stop me really is the scent of the decomposing bodies.

And that one room.

I think I can just avoid that one.

Besides, if I hear anything, I'll run my ass all the way back here.

I finalized my decision and got up to go back inside the guest house to check my bag for what we might need. I didn't have that much canned food left, so I made a little note to myself to look for some. It wouldn't hurt to look for a gun or two, and maybe some clean clothes. Oh yeah, and water, of course.

Before I headed back out I checked the clock, it was about six in the morning. I brought my eyes back to Rick's sleeping form and I felt a little creepy for just watching him sleep, but I really couldn't help it. He looked so peaceful when he slept. He already looked younger too! When I first met him he looked tired and worried, but I guess my company has really helped him keep his mind off of a lot of things…

I tip-toed out of the room to make sure he wouldn't wake up and quietly closed the door. I really hope he's not a light sleeper, probably is though. Actually, I think everyone is a light sleeper now, which sucks to think about. But hey, I said goodbye to a healthy sleep cycle the minute I decided to pursue a physics degree.

I treaded over to the house, getting ready to pinch my nose for the upcoming vile smell and slipped inside. It was much safer to be here now, since it was a lot lighter and for the obvious lack of walkers.

The kitchen was a little muddled, but I'm bound to find at least something good to eat. I checked the first couple of cupboards and there were several cans of soup, got a little annoyed that some of them were expired but stacked the good ones on the counter.

I know this is stupid, but I checked the refrigerator anyways. I was surprised that it didn't smell horrible, just a little sour scent from the spoiled milk. There were, however, a couple bottles of water, not cold, but who cares? It's still water.

There was a large pantry in the back corner of the kitchen, and to be honest I expected a dead body but that was because of all the horror movies I've seen. But nope, it was empty. I mean, there was some liquor…but nobody has to know about that. I grinned mischievously as I added the bottle to the pile of canned food, planning to stash it later for myself.

I avoided the living room as much as possible while going up the stairs, making my way to the master bedroom. I silently thanked a higher deity as I saw that there was nothing in the room waiting for me, a little messy like the kitchen, which was expected anyways.

I dug through the closet to find some extra pants at least, but most of the clothes were too big for me or Rick. I tried the dressers as well, but all I could find were undergarments and there's no way I'm taking those.

There was another room, aside from the fucked up one, which I assumed to belong to one of the kids'. Thing is, never been inside and never really noticed it before, probably because I was too busy panicking earlier.

I kept my hand on my gun as I stepped inside, keeping my ears and eyes open for anything.

But again, I was lucky. Nothing.

The room looked like it belonged to the farmer's daughter, I could tell by the pink and white striped wallpaper and frilly comforter on her bed. So she was the one who was locked with her brother.

Thinking about her last moments made me start to feel bad about going through her stuff, but hopefully she was the type of girl who liked helping people. I did the same thing I did in the parents' bedroom, started with the closet and made my way to her dresser.

Fortunately I was able to find a white v-neck, a little loose on me since I have a small frame, but it was airy enough for the Georgia heat. I also found a denim button down blouse, which fit a little better and wasn't too bad looking. Couldn't find anything for pants or shorts, guess I'll have to do with these dark wash jeans I was wearing. I'll live.

I wish I'd found something for Rick, but honestly if I'd found something he probably wouldn't wear it since he's so damn attached to his uniform and _especially_ his hat (which I'm surprised he doesn't sleep in). I find it attractive though, so I won't complain that much.

Nothing else really appealed to me in the house, nothing was working either. I checked the bathroom and pulled some essentials out of there like shampoo, soap, and toothpaste – I already had toothbrushes so at least my teeth would look nice and white while the world is ending.

I walked out through the backdoor, carrying what I found in my arms and trying to find any potential melee weapons in the backyard. But all there was…was just land. A lot of land. Are all farms this empty?

The only thing worth mentioning was the stable with the horse in it, but I left all that to Rick since animals don't really like me. Probably the reason I have that faded bite mark on my arm…

The horse neighed at me and it nearly made me jump out of my skin. Was it hungry or something?

I stepped closer and the horse moved closer to the edge of the stable as if it were going to communicate with me. Umm…what do I do? Talk to it?

"Uhh…hi there." The horse just stared back at me and I fidgeted a little, do I feed it? To be frank, animals scare the shit out of me.

"A-Are you hungry?" I hesitated, since I know _nothing_ about animals. I've only had _one_ pet in my whole life, but I let my brother take care of it, not me.

The horse turned its head as if it were ignoring me, "Well fuck you too, then." I muttered, hoping it'd understand, and went back to the guest house. I hate horses anyways.

I snuck back inside to check the time and to pull my bag outside with me, I can be very indecisive and I didn't want to wake Rick up by going back in every ten minutes to grab something.

I was feeling a little hungry, so I popped open one of the canned peaches and dug in. So much better than that stale cereal I had yesterday. After, I checked my bag for what felt like the millionth time that day. I get so paranoid about my things, so I always have to make sure I have everything, or else I get very cranky.

I pulled out the notepad and scribbled some things down about the place, making sure to mention that there wasn't really much worth looking for in the house and that the guest house would serve as a safe place to stay for a while. I need to remember to leave this here when Rick and I leave.

I wonder how my family is doing and I frowned a little at the fact that I hadn't been thinking about them recently. They're probably safe, I kept telling myself. My brother is very protective of my mother and I know for a fact he wouldn't let anything happen to her, but it's technically my job to worry as a sister and a daughter.

If I could have anything right now though, it'd probably be to hear my mom's voice. I wouldn't want to see her right now, I wouldn't want her to see the shape I'm in right now and where I'm at. But I'd do anything just to hear her tell me everything will be okay and that she loves me.

I stared at my phone that lay on the seat next to me. Some would probably think it's dead weight, but I think it'd be stupid to just throw it away. I'm well aware that the chances of charging it or even getting service are very slim, but I'm not going to just get rid of. You never know what could happen. I could get to Fort Benning or the CDC and I could miraculously get a signal and be able to contact my brother – the dead are coming back to life, _anything_ can happen, really.

* * *

><p>I woke up lying down on the bed in the guest house…how did I end up here?<p>

I rubbed my forehead and my eyelids fluttered several times, adjusting to the light. I grunted aloud when I shifted my position, fuck, did I make a stupid decision and decide to drink? I thought I learned my lesson after that one time I woke up in another country…

Rick stepped into the room with a bottle in his hands, looking _very_ worried. As soon as our eyes met he nearly tripped as he stormed to my side with the bottle, "Drink this." He ordered.

I followed what he said and took several sips of the water before speaking, "What…the fuck happened?" I managed to sputter out.

"I woke up at around nine and I found you passed out on the ground. You were still breathing and I carried you inside." He paused and grabbed my hand tenderly, "Scared the hell out of me, Isabelle."

"I- what? I passed out?" I stammered, trying to compute what I was hearing.

"Yeah." He sighed, "You're dehydrated. That's why I'm making you drink this." He handed me the bottle again for me to drink, but I spoke again to thank him, "Holy shit. Thanks, Rick." Holy shit was the only way to describe it.

He shook his head, "Don't worry about it, just drink the water. I think we might to stay another day."

I shot his idea down, "No, no, no. We're not staying another day, we have to leave and find your sister."

"It can wait, Isabelle," he insisted, "We'll leave when you feel better."

I jumped out of the bed to show him otherwise, "I am fine!" But my body decided to give me a nice 'fuck you' and make me wobble a bit when I stood up, causing me to crash down on the bed. I'm way too stubborn for my own good.

Damn it, now I look like some weak girl who can't take care of herself since this will be the _third_ time he's had to take care of me. Classic case of 'damsel in distress' bullshit…

"I don't want to sleep though." I nagged, throwing the back of my hand over my forehead, which didn't feel too warm. I wasn't sick!

"You don't have to, just make sure you're drinking enough water," he paused for a brief moment and then added, "and stop being so stubborn."

I smiled to myself at his little remark, "Rick?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up."

* * *

><p>When I finally dragged myself out of bed (I couldn't sleep), we both ate together outside and just hung out for a little bit to kill time. I was starting to feel a hell of a lot better, and I kept badgering him that we could leave but every single time he'd insist that we stay until I was at my best.<p>

So we shared more about our pasts, I told him a lot about school and shared some other things about my family. It started turning into my sharing my random party stories, but I decided to keep the one about waking up in another country to myself, I'll have to save that for another time.

I told him about my interesting conversation with the horse earlier and he teased me about it before taking me to the stable to show me that they really weren't that scary. He tried to get me to ride the horse, but I told him that I'd rather drink lemon juice after chewing on shards of glass before getting on that animal, only for him to laugh.

"Come on, Isabelle, it won't be that bad." He said as he mounted the horse, trying to keep a straight face as the horse bucked several times before calming down, and when I saw that, my eyes were fucking saucers.

"No way in hell am I getting on, Rick." Although, I was perfectly fine with watching. There's just something sexy about seeing him being confident enough to mount a horse bareback.

The horse neighed and I raced the hell out of the stable, last time I heard that sound I nearly got rammed by a cow, not exactly the best memory to have.

I heard him snicker at my reaction, and he dismounted to come over to me. "Isabelle, the horse is our only mode of transportation if something happens," he said in a serious tone, "you're gonna have to learn."

Damn, he really did have a good point there. "I can run if I have to!" I joked, opening the stable to step back inside. "I'll only get on if you help me."

He looked shocked, "Of course I'm going to help you!"

I shrugged, "Well I didn't know."

Rick led me to the horse, and even if he told me this horse was a saint I still was going to be fearful, but I followed him to show him I was willing to learn.

We stepped closer and he pet its neck, "See? It's not that bad." He told me, so I tried to reach my hand out, only for the horse to snort, causing me to pull my hand back quickly. He gave me a reassuring smile and told me it was just curious.

I had to admit, I was still scared shitless, but having someone experienced there helped. I turned to him, "How do I get on?"

"Just try to swing up." That sounds really simple, but will probably end up being the most challenging thing ever.

I tried to remember the gymnastics unit from high school on how to mount a high beam, was it just swing your leg over? My first attempt was pretty sad, I tried to jump up and get on my stomach while to swing my leg over, but the horse bucked and I nearly fell off.

I tried again, and got frustrated since it tried to buck me off again so I asked him to help me. This time, as soon as I got my stomach on the horse, he kept the horse still and pushed my leg up to keep me balanced. It took a couple tries and 'fancy' language and we finally got it.

"Holy fuck." I mumbled after taking a deep breath, "Thanks."

"No problem. How does it feel?" He asked.

"Weird." Was the only response I could think of, "I've never been on a horse before."

Rick placed his hand on the back of the horses' neck to keep it calm, "There's a first for everything. Least now you're a little more comfortable."

"Yep." I'm still scared and I was itching to get off this horse, "Can you help me down now?"

"You sure? You're starting to get the hang of it." Was he trying to give me a heart attack?

"Pretty fuckin' please with cheese on top?" I pouted.

He chuckled, "Alright, just lean forward and try to swing one leg over."

I followed his instructions but kept wobbling and eventually chickened out. "I need help with this, Rick." I pointed out, and got back in my earlier position. He nodded and instructed me to lean forward again and to try to swing my leg over, while keeping one hand on my hip. As soon as I thought I was about to lose balance, he grabbed my hips and pulled me down on my feet.

Thank god for that.

"No more horses." I uttered, no matter how many times I get on a horse I'll never get used to it.

"You did a good job. At least you didn't cry." He joked, trying to lighten the mood.

I'll give him that, "Yep. At least I didn't cry…"

We both left the stable and went back to the guest house, it was getting a lot darker now and probably close to the time where I'd be going to bed. I'll admit that I was starting to feel better from Rick's persistence of making me drink water when I first woke up in the afternoon and during dinner.

He was inside cleaning his wound, so I waited outside, absentmindedly running my fingers over the delicate scar on my forearm. I started wondering about Rick's gunshot wound and crinkled my eyebrows together to see if I could remember ever asking him how _he_ was…

I never did.

When he came back out, I decided to bring it up and if he doesn't want to talk about it then he doesn't have to, "How is your gunshot wound anyways?" I questioned and he nearly looked surprised.

He placed his hand over the wound as if I noticed he was bleeding through the gauze or something. "Fine, a little tender." He answered.

"What exactly happened?"

"Police chase basically, me and my partner Shane were at a road block, waiting for the driver to hit the road spikes. As soon as his tires blew, his car lost control and flipped over the side of the road. We thought he was a goner, or at least incapacitated. The door flew open and a man came out with a gun. I ordered him to put the gun down and he didn't comply so we took him down. He tagged me in the chest, but I was fine, scared as hell, but fine. I got back up and brushed it off, but another son of a bitch came out and shot me in the left side right under my shoulder." He finished as he pointed to the spot where he'd been shot, flinching a little.

"They got him right?" I was hoping the bastard felt everything he got.

"I don't remember," he hesitated, "I just remember Shane yelling for a medic and then passing out." I could tell this wasn't easy to talk about, and I seriously shouldn't have brought it up.

"I'm sorry for asking." I said faintly.

"You were just curious."

"And worried." I added, hoping I wasn't coming off as too strong.

"And worried." He repeated, "Now you know how I felt when I found you passed out."

I turned to face him in my seat, "I promise I won't let that happen again. I'll actually take care of myself from now on."

"And you weren't before?" He poked at my rather poor choice of words.

"Well." I cleared my throat and thought for a moment, "Let me rephrase that: I'll take better care of myself from now on."

I caught myself staring at his face, not in the cheesy way either, just trying to memorize all of his facial features. I had a feeling he was doing the same and I could feel myself melt.

"Oh the hell with it." I cried and leaned in to press my lips to his, this day could be my last and I was sure as shit going to enjoy it.

* * *

><p><em>I'm such a comma and ellipses whore guys, I just realized that. Sorry for the lack of update on Christmas, but as a gift you guys get a longer chapter. Yay! Anyways, responses to reviews here:<em>

_EldestDurk: __thanks for the Christmas review and hopefully you'll continue to share your feedback!_

_Leyshla Gisel__: sorry for the lack of crazy action, just Isabelle rambling about everything, hopefully next chapter they'll be in Atlanta…_

_Padme4000:_ _have my babies now_

_ChaosUmbrella:__ you may have my children as well, and Isabelle is happy that you say she isn't a mary sue_

_Chlexfan10:__ Rick is always so sweet and comforting, he says thanks and wishes you a happy and safe holidays_

_Guccileopard__: I wish you were longer!11!_

_All my other readers and lurkers:__ Y U NO REVIEW?_

_Any questions? Feedback? Want to tell me how much you hate me? Drop a review then! _

_Also you guys should totally check out guccileopard's story: __They Say__, it's a DarylxOC fic and yeah I know I would rather chew glass, but hers is fucking sexy. So read it. Now. Open a new tab and do it right now._


	12. Chapter 12

_Anyone remember what Maggie said about the other barns?_

_Also I'm retarded…I just rewatched the first episode and Rick didn't ride the horse bareback, sorry guys. I hope you don't mind the random saddle in there._

_Padme being the genius that she is pointed something out, if you reviewed last chapter and want to review this one then go to Chapter 4 and review that one, since I deleted a chapter and the numbers are messed up. Should be fine for 13, and if you didn't review last chapter well then what're you waiting for, silly?_

* * *

><p>He was kissing me back, <em>oh man<em> was he kissing me back. I nearly gasped as I felt (and enjoyed) the tingling sensation of his cold fingers caress my cheek, giving me the green light to let my hands roam around. His other hand snaked around my waist, and I parted my lips to let his tongue run ever so lightly over my bottom lip, sending shivers down my spine.

My lips quivered as we separated to take a breath of air, and I felt myself whimper at the absence of his touch.

And that's when we both realized what we'd done.

We both stared at each other in silence, not in the cute way like earlier either, but the what-the-fuck-just-happened look. I shouldn't have done that. I really shouldn't have…

He wasn't saying anything either, which was not helping me at all. This was one of those moments where I wish I could just spontaneously combust.

"I-uhh.." I stuttered, only for him to cut me off with a smug grin, "That was nice."

Huge sigh of relief. But at the same time I was pissed at him for scaring me like that, so I gave him a playful push on his shoulder and grinned, "Asshole, you scared me."

I didn't want to ruin our moment though, so before he could give me some smart ass remark, I firmly grabbed his shirt and pulled him back into another tight lip lock.

* * *

><p><strong>September 11, 2010<strong>

Although I was pretty much on cloud nine, I still couldn't sleep last night. I thought my nightmares were getting better, but within the first two hours I already got one about Jane, and it didn't help that it was vivid. I was also woken up by that unbearable pain in my forearm, and so went outside to join Rick.

I could tell he wanted to sleep but he knew he had to stay awake so I suggested the both of us going to sleep together. It took a hell of a lot of convincing, but he finally gave in when I told him we could barricade the doors with the furniture inside the guest house (which was just a large wooden dresser) and reminded him that I was a light sleeper – a habit I developed from being on my own for two weeks.

He was asleep probably about half the night, I could tell, but he still got into bed with me. No sex, obviously, but there was some cuddling. Never really thought of myself as the cuddler type though…

This morning I woke up feeling pretty well rested, no nightmares and I was feeling better – probably the first day I've woken up with a smile on my face. Partly because of the absence of nightmares, but mostly with the feeling of Rick's arms around my waist and his nose buried in the crook of my neck, snoring softly. I really wanted to stretch, but I didn't have the heart to move and wake him up.

I tried to stretch my legs out a bit and then I could feel him stir behind me, so I slipped out of the bed to go eat outside. The climate wasn't too bad that morning, but it was still early so I wasn't going to get my hopes up only for it to be stomped on later. Looks like a decent enough day to leave though, I was aching to leave this empty farm.

We were having breakfast that morning together and things were a bit quiet – not exactly awkward though. He was trying to talk to me but I just wasn't feeling talkative, I was confused more than anything. Which was making me feel bad because I could tell he was a little hurt by me ignoring him, when I really wasn't doing that on purpose. It's just that I didn't know what last night was. The kissing, cuddling, everything – yeah it was nice but now what? Are we together? Or just friends? Should I even bring it up?

I fidgeted in my seat while trying to avoid eye contact. Disregard what I said, this was pretty awkward. I really liked what we had and I had to admit I was developing a small crush – wait no, I really liked him. I'd be lying to myself if I said it was just a small crush, but I didn't want to scare him away with my feelings.

He took notice of how I wasn't touching my food much and tried to speak again, with a hint of worry in his tone, "Isabelle, what's wrong?"

I could either talk about my feelings, or act completely oblivious – so I made the stupid decision of choosing the latter, "Nothing's wrong…" I crinkled my eyebrows together to think of a more appropriate response, "Well, okay, there is. But it's a little thing."

"What is it?"

"It's just last night," Before I could continue, I noticed how his body slumped in his seat a little, looking disappointed, but I continued on, "I- I just don't know what it meant. To you." Grow some balls, Isabelle! "Listen, Rick, I really like you. A lot. Yeah I know, it's been only a day or two but whatever, we've been together for the past forty eight hours and it'd be weird to _not_ develop an attraction to you. And just, I don't know man, what does it mean?"

He blushed. Holy shit, he fucking blushed, and I could barely suppress my giggle. I felt pretty flattered, actually, and couldn't wipe the stupid grin off my face when he was trying to string a sentence together.

So he got straight to the point, "I care about you a lot, Isabelle. You know that, and you shouldn't worry about last night because I liked it as much as you did."

Before we should get more into the sappy stuff, I turned my head to hear some shuffling in the backyard of the main house. Hopefully it's just some roamer and it didn't bring any friends.

We both got up and I grabbed my hammer, as opposed to my gun, and we went out back to survey the area.

Turns out, it did bring friends.

Not just some small group either, we were dealing with a horde that were beginning to surround the camp, and if we weren't going to get moving soon, we'd be stuck here.

Rick and I raced back into the guest house to get our bags, I tried to pack everything I needed in my bag, snatched my gun to holster it, and he slung his duffle bag over his shoulder. We ran to the stable, and I absolutely dreaded the idea of having to ride the horse since I only learned (and failed) how to mount/dismount a horse. I'm so fucked.

He helped me mount the horse, I was relieved that he found a saddle amidst our rush to get our things, I was still frightened, but at least the ride would be much more comfortable. Before mounting in front of me he quickly handed me the bag of guns, it felt a little heavy and I could feel the straps digging into my shoulders, but now wasn't the time to be complaining. Once we were comfortable and I had my arms wrapped around his waist, careful of his wound though, we took off and I held on for dear life.

* * *

><p>Trotting to Atlanta was just…depressing. Cars with shattered windows and lifeless bodies inside lining the freeways, the scent of death lingering in the air, and the overall eerie feeling of being watched made me start to sulk. I hated imagining these people's last moments…<p>

We were nearing closer to Atlanta, and I leaned forward, wrapping my hands tighter around his stomach. I was not enjoying the feeling of the place.

"Where are we going now?" I whispered, for fear that there could be walkers in the area.

He put his hand over mine for comfort, "Maybe we can find some building to stay in," I think he could tell my eyes widened at the thought of staying in the heart of Atlanta for a night, so he quickly added, "I think there's a small evacuation around here."

I sighed in response, too tired to debate, "Alright, there's not a chance in hell we're staying here."

We passed the evacuation, abandoned and looted. There was a helicopter and it made me regret not ever thinking of becoming a avionic mechanic when presented the opportunity in the Army…but of course, I just had to say no. "I won't need that." I remember telling myself.

I squinted my eyes to read the signs ahead, we were approaching a street called 'Marietta St.' and I was hoping we'd be getting the hell out of here soon.

As soon as we passed a crashed bus, the horse darted to the side nearly knocking me off. "Fucking horse…" I swore under my breath while pulling my gun out because of the two walkers that crawled out, not much of a threat though, but I still kept my hand on my weapon. Rick noticed a tank ahead and we rode towards it to get a better look, only to find a corpse outside of it being feasted on by several crows.

When we both heard the roar of a helicopter flying above us, Rick, without warning, squeezed his calves harder against the horse to get it to trot faster to follow the helicopter. We turned the corner, only for us to be faced with at least a couple dozen walkers, which all turned their heads and hissed at us as soon as we noticed them. Fuck.

The horse was starting to freak out, and Rick managed to get it under control for us to turn around and try to leave the way we came. This didn't work at all, since the walkers we'd just encountered must've alerted the other stray ones, which were now clumped together and meeting us at the end of the street to leave. Double fuck.

With more and more walkers surrounding us, the only place that seemed safe enough was the tank next to us. I wasn't sure what to do, but this decision was made for me when I was thrown off the horse, landing on my back and losing my gun, as well as both bags.

"Rick!" I shouted as I saw the walkers pay attention to him, rather than me, and try to pull him off from the horse. I tried to crawl over to my bag and at least get a hold of my gun, but the few ones paying attention to me lunged for my legs.

He was pulled down from the horse, but fortunately the walkers went for the horses instead of him, giving me enough time to drag him to crawl with me under the tank.

Several followed us under, and I tried to keep them back by dealing blows to their face with my legs, but they were soon outnumbering us, while Rick pulled out his gun and took out the closest ones and we kept crawling closer together.

I must've been distracted by my heart beating in my ear and the moans of the undead, because one moment I'm trying to keep them back and the next I'm being yanked by my arms into the tank. He swiftly closed the hatch and we sat there to catch our breaths.

"What…" I paused to pull myself together, "What the fuck do we do now?"

"I still have my gun." He assured me and he crawled to the corpse with the military uniform to grab the radio. I stayed near the hatch, prepared for any of them to lift it and poke their head inside.

The familiar ring of a gunshot nearly burst my ear drums and I could feel my head getting dizzy. Did he just shoot the damn gun inside of a tank?

With my hands pressed over my ears, I glanced over to Rick who looked very lost and noticed the walker with a gunshot wound to their head right next to him. Of course there'd be a fucking walker in here!

I crawled over to him to slap him back to reality, "Rick! What the fuck do we do now?" I honestly didn't mean to yell at him because I wasn't angry at him, I was angry at the situation, where we were and right now we needed to devise a plan to get the hell out of here.

"Shit…" he swore under his breath and I looked to where he was looking at. The hatch on top was open, so I made my way there to stick my head out.

I stepped on the seat and leaned on my elbows to survey the vicinity and saw our bags a good three or four feet away from the tank. I lifted my head to look for any tell-tale signs of where we were, but I honestly had no clue. I would've been able to stay outside longer to see if there were any clear routes out of here, but the walkers were beginning the climb up the side, so I dropped down and locked the hatch.

I plopped down on the seat, trying to keep myself calm by taking deep breaths. I wanted to talk to Rick, but he sat with his face in his palms.

We slowly turned out heads as we heard the static of the radio break the silence, followed by some turd asking us if the tank was cozy. I snorted at the man's dark sense of humor, and dragged myself over to Rick, only for him to wrap his arms around me and wait for the man's instructions – hoping it'd be quick, but knowing at the same time that it wouldn't be easy.

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><p>"Hey…" the radio cut out, and I was about to lose it if we somehow lost communications, "Hey, you alive?"<p>

I lunged for the radio and answered it, "Yes, we're alive! Where are you? Do you see us?"

"Yeah, I see you," he replied, "You're surrounded by walkers, that's the bad news."

I rolled my eyes, "Thanks, I'm not sure I would've figured that out on my own." Before Rick was able to snatch the radio, I kept talking, "Is there good news?"

"No." The man replied bluntly.

"Is there anything you can tell me that's useful?" I replied snidely out of my growing frustration, why radio us if you're useless?

A pregnant pause - and I wasn't sure if it was the communications or him taking his time. "My advice is…to make a run for it."

I don't think I've ever wanted to bash my head so hard than at that moment, and I felt that if I'd keep talking to this moron I'd shoot myself so I handed to radio to Rick.

"Didn't you see what they did to my horse out there? Just make a run for it?" He asked skeptically, but in a much nicer way than what I would've responded with.

I was too caught up listening for any more groans outside, and although terrible, hoping they were too busy devouring the horse – if they were that could give us enough time to actually make a run for it.

"They're too busy eating the horse, the street across from you is empty so if you made a run for it you can make it. Do you have any weapons?" I heard the man say, and didn't pay attention to the rest or Rick's response, instead I rushed over to the corpse to find any weapons: a hand grenade, his handgun and I plucked the foldable shovel from his uniform as well.

I handed the gun to Rick while I kept the shovel, and once we'd counted to three I opened the hatch and made my way out first, knocking the first walker out of the way with a swift strike of my shovel.

I jumped down, landing on my feet and clearing the several walkers in front of us. With Rick close behind, we ran and turned the corner, with him occasionally turning back to shoot any that were getting close.

"Just keep running, Rick!" I shouted back, and once we reached the gate I was prepared to swing again, only to be met with an Asian guy with a baseball cap throw his hands up and yell, "Not dead!"

I lowered my weapon and grabbed Rick by the arm to pull him inside the alley, all three of us running to a yellow ladder.

The guy followed first and I shoved Rick to go up after, ignoring his rebuttals for me to go first. I gripped the rungs of the ladder and kept climbing up, making sure to kick at walkers that were trying to latch at my ankles.

We finally reached the first stop in the ladder, where I was bent over trying to catch my breath. I handed my shovel to Glenn so it'd be easier for me to stay mobile and Rick did the same thing as well. I heard the two introduce themselves to each other and felt Rick pull me close.

I introduced myself to the man one I'd caught my breath, his name was Glenn and could tell he was questioning whether me and Rick were a 'thing' by the look he was giving us. Trust me Glenn, I'm dying to know the same thing.

The friendly chatter, which really consisted of Glenn calling us a dumbass, ended when we all looked down to see one walker trying to climb up. It didn't help that it was surrounded by dozens of others, growling and extending their arms towards us.

Glenn looked up at the ladder and glanced back to us, "Well, good thing is that the fall would kill us," he joked. While I appreciated the humor, I really just wanted to get the hell out of here.

Again, Glenn led the way by climbing up the ladder first, and Rick insisted that I go ahead so I did this time. We made our way to the top of a building, where we all learned a little more about Glenn and even answered why he'd helped us – for the fact that if he were stuck in our situation he'd want someone to do the same thing, which I completely agreed with.

Another damn hatch, and it was dark inside, lovely. He dropped his bag in and we both followed him inside, hoping he knew the place well.

He led us to some office building and we got to the emergency stairwell, when he pulled out his radio to contact (what I assumed) to be the other group of survivors. He told them to be ready and as soon as we got to the alleyway, there were two walkers roaming in the alleyway.

As soon as they turned their attention to us, the door across burst open and two men in some sort of sports gear came out and attacked the walkers with their wooden baseball bats, giving the three of us the opportunity to make a mad dash to the door with the other survivors.

Right when we enter and I'm about to celebrate the sight of other humans, some blonde woman shoved Rick up against a stack of boxes and pointed a gun directly in his face, "Son of a bitch! We ought to kill you, asshole!" She snapped, pressing the gun further into Rick's forehead.

The other survivors didn't try to take her down or anything, and I was not going to stand there and watch. I didn't have my foldable shovel, but I did notice a glass bottle. I snatched it up, ignoring the other survivors' pleas for the woman to put the gun down, and smashed the bottle on the metal counter nearby. Stepping closer to her, I pressed the broken bottle against her carotid artery, ready for her to make a move.

"If you shoot him," I started slowly, "I will not hesitate to jam this fucking bottle in your neck."

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><p><em>I can't describe kisses ha, but it works. <em>

_Padme4000: __thank you for your review and thanks for reassuring she's not a mary sue, it really helps_

_Chlexfan10:__ don't worry, I grinned like an idiot when writing the last part of ch 11_

_Nurseratchet:__ you don't know if Isabelle will end up with Rick or Daryl…anything can happen ;)_

_Leyshla Gisel__: yeah I know she finally grew some balls and kissed him_

_Guccileopard__: I was so scared I didn't get the horses right…but hearing from you makes it better_

_Everyone else: stop lurking and tell me what you think. :D Anonymous reviews are on and will be that way forever and ever and ever and ever…_

_Also, I created a community for stories worth your while, should be expanding it later and if you want to see a story there, then PM me. The link is in my profile and while you're there, you should check out my random poll there! :D_


	13. Chapter 13

_I love you guys. Love love love love._

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><p>Rick's voice wavered as soon as he began to speak to me, "Isabelle…put the bottle down…please."<p>

The others joined in calling the girls name, Andrea, begging her to put the gun down.

"I'll put it down when she puts the gun down," I gritted through my teeth, I'll wait here all day if I have to, "Simple as that."

One of the men in armor stepped closer to her, between us, and sternly told her to back off. She kept going on some stupid rant about how we're all gonna die and how it was Rick's fault. I could only scoff and shake my head in response to her poor use of logic.

The man had balls though, I had to admit, he even dared her to shoot Rick. I just wanted her to make a move – any move, so I'd have an excuse to hurt her.

She finally turned her head to the man and put the gun down, letting go of Rick's shirt. Damn right, bitch. I placed the bottle on a metal shelf, and before I could say something, the man who calmed her down dragged Rick by the arm ahead, scolding him about us shooting up the streets.

"What the hell else were we supposed to do?" I asked, annoyed.

My question, of course, was ignored, as a black man complained that every walker in the vicinity had heard our gunshots.

We reached a small boutique, and stared at the windows in front of us. The black guy was right, it looked like we'd alerted every single walker in Atlanta. Even though I'd seen many and killed plenty, I still cringe when I see them clawing and gnawing at the windows.

I suppose the group was trying to make a point to us: don't use guns. I already knew that myself, and I really didn't appreciate the tone they were using, they could've at least been a little nicer about it.

"Did you guys not see the situation we were in? We were being chased!" I exclaimed.

The bulky guy turned to me, "Just don't make sure it happens again," he warned, "You two are lucky Glenn found you when he did."

"Right." I replied dryly.

The windows started to creak as the walkers kept pounding on it, we were going to have to leave soon. The group started to move back towards the store, scared. I joined them, and we all huddled together to come up with a plan.

The blonde bitch turned to Rick and I to ask us what we were doing out there, but I let him answer. I don't get how he was able to act civil towards the woman who pulled a gun on him, but to each their own, I guess.

The black guy, T-dog, was told to get his radio out to contact the "others". Others? That makes things a lot more interesting.

Rick must've read my mind, because as soon as he heard that he asked the same thing.

The black woman answered his question and explained that there was a refugee camp outside of Atlanta that contained other survivors, and I could feel Rick's hopes arise. But of course, our conversation was interrupted by a loud gunshot that didn't sound too far from where we were at.

Andrea looked up with horror written over her features, "Shit. Was that Dixon?"

"Wh-" I started, but the group rushed upstairs, while Rick grabbed my forearm and pulled me away from the window. Hopefully, the walkers had short term memory.

As we were making out way upstairs, a generous amount of gunshots continued to ring out. Is this guy an idiot?

I nudged the black girl to ask her name, "Sorry, didn't have time to introduce ourselves," she whispered, "I'm Jacqui, Morales is the one who talks a lot. Andrea is the blonde one, Glenn found you guys, and T-dog has the radio. Merle is the idiot upstairs who keeps shootin' his gun."

I nodded as thanks and continued upstairs.

"Hey Dixon! You crazy?" Morales shouted to a man across the rooftop, who had a very interesting choice in attire. I wasn't too sure if he was wearing a shirt or tank under that leather vest, but I was more concerned with the fact that he was able to wear leather in this Georgia heat.

The man, Merle, turned around with his rifle ready and only laughed at Morales. Asshole.

"Hey man you ought to be more polite to the man with the gun! Only common sense!" He joked, jumping down to meet the rest of the group.

T-dog ran ahead and shouted back, "Man you're wasting all our bullets we ain't even got! And you're bring all the damn walkers over here! Man what the hell is your problem?"

I waited behind for the scene to unfold, should I step in? Or not? Surely, Merle could take me down easily since he was a hell of a lot bigger than me, but I could at least distract him so the others can step him. The way the group stayed behind without saying a word made me start to wonder why they left this man in charge, and made me hope that he wasn't the leader of the whole refugee camp as well.

He stepped closer to T-dog, and I could feel the heavy tension in the air, "Ey man I gotta listen to some taco vender all day and now ya think I'm gonna listen to you? That'll be the day," he smiled at the end, clearly trying to provoke T-dog.

I tried to step forward, but the look of "don't bother" from Glenn and Rick holding me back stopped me. I whispered to Rick, "We can't just stand here and let things escalate!"

Glenn replied quietly, "Just stay out of it." And Rick nodded his head in agreement, to my disappointment.

I huffed and stayed behind, I wouldn't be able to do much if I stepped in right now since no one else would even support me.

"That'll be the day?" T-dog repeated, "What the hell you tryin' to say?"

Shit. This was getting bad, and quick.

Merle leaned closer to T-dog, while Morales kept his distance trying to calm them down, telling him that it wasn't worth it. What kind of group lets this shit happen?

"Wanna know the day? I'll tell ya mister 'yo', it's the day I take orders from a nigger." He spat hatefully, only for T-dog to try and throw a punch, but miss.

I couldn't listen anymore, I broke away from Rick's grip and grabbed Merle's shoulder before he could butt stroke T-dog with his rifle, hoping I could distract him long enough.

He surprisingly turned to his attention to me, and yes I was scared as hell, but I distracted him more, "What the fuck is your problem man? Can't stand some 'nigger' having more common sense than you?" I mocked him for his earlier choice of words.

"My problem?" He started, but keeping his distance from me, "You sayin' a niggers' smarter than me?"

I saw Rick closing in on him from behind, but not fast enough because as soon as Merle finished speaking, he lunged at me and I felt the back of his hand meet my face, sending me to the cement. Ouch.

Jeez, I thought I could hold my own a little better than that, I guess not though. I held my lip as I tried to bring myself up, and I knew I was going to hear it later from Rick. It was only a small gash though, not too much blood.

One moment I'm on the ground holding my lip, and the next Merle is there too face down. I scooted away as I saw Rick drag him to the large pipe on the roof, put his knee in the middle of Merle's back, and handcuff him to it. He pulled a pistol on Merle and started speaking to him, but I didn't hear it as Jacqui rushed to me to ask about my injuries.

I kept nodding my head, waiting for her to finish so I could speak, "How's T-dog?" I asked, but she ignored my question and insisted that she check my injuries. I continued to swat her hands away, "I'm fine. How is T-dog?" I questioned again.

"He's fine, thanks to you and Rick. You got nerve girl, he could've hurt you."

"I'm aware." I answered with an annoyed tone, and she stuck her hand out to help me up.

I wasn't sure what the hell happened between Rick and Merle, but as soon as they were done talking, Rick stormed off with Morales following close behind.

It stung a little that he didn't ask how I was, but it was understandable. I was the reckless person who just had to step in, but did anyone not see it from my point of view? If I didn't step in, then who would've? Was everyone just going to wait until T-dog was beaten to a pulp before doing something?

Speaking of T-dog, he ran over to me (along with the rest of the group) to thank me, but I could only nod my head. I wasn't some hero, I was just doing what was right. After asking him if he was okay, I went over to Rick to see what was up.

"You better pray when I get loose you pig!" I heard Merle shout behind me, and I shouldn't have turned around but I did. Watching him writhe around was pathetic, but I almost felt sorry for him since he must've been raised in a pretty shit family – it was hard to blame him for the way he was acting. Regardless, he still was an asshole and a racist piece of shit.

"You stupid bitch!" He shouted at me, but I crossed my arms and shrugged at him nonchalantly, "I've heard it all before, shithead." I told him, only for him to try to reach out at me again.

He stopped panting and finally relaxed – or so I thought because he still couldn't keep his fucking mouth shut, "You better watch your mouth before Merle'll have to teach ya a lesson." He told me with a smug grin.

I laughed the insult off and then kneeled down beside him, "Fuck you." I spat, hoping to get the last word because had he said something else, I probably would've given him a swift kick to the ribs. Fortunately, he was able to take the hint, but I knew he wouldn't stay quiet for too long. I know his type.

Rick was waiting at the other side of the roof, observing the streets quietly. "Rick," I started, waiting for a response, and to be honest, I expected him to start lecturing me, but instead he turned to me and raised my chin like he was checking my face for any scratches.

I thought he was done, but instead he leaned in to give me a tender kiss on the lips. I was confused, but hell, a kiss is a kiss.

When he pulled back, he ran his thumb over my lip, "Don't do that again, Isabelle," Here comes the lecture I was talking about… "I can't stand seeing you getting hurt like that."

My eyebrows crinkled together in confusion, "Why aren't you mad?" I know didn't come out the way I necessarily intended it to, but how else could I put it?

"I was, believe me. After handcuffing him, I wanted to shoot him for what he did to you, but I walked away. I had to…" He trailed off, almost ashamed.

I gently grabbed his hand, "Don't worry, you were the better man by walking away." I was about to lean in for another kiss, but it was interrupted by more garbage spewing from Merle's mouth.

We went back to meet with the group, and I left Rick to talk to Morales while I kept an eye on the streets, hoping I could spot our bag or maybe even the horse. I snorted to myself at Andrea's obtuse rejection to Merle's offers in exchange for setting him free. I didn't like her much, but at least she wasn't _that_ stupid.

I overheard bits and pieces of Rick and Morales' conversation, and my head perked up when I heard sewers. Sewers? All the manholes had to be in the main streets and those were overrun with walkers, or "geeks" as Glenn liked to call them.

Jacqui spoke up, "Old building like this had to be built in the 20s, big structures often had drainage tunnels into the sewers for floods." Before anyone could question her credibility, she continued, "I know this because I worked in the city's zoning office."

Everyone shared a quick glance, and we all left for the stairs, leaving T-dog behind because the radio received a better signal on the roof and to keep an eye on Merle.

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><p>"Are…you sure this is it, Glenn?" I asked skeptically while staring down at the dark tunnel before us. Not too sure on where it led to, but was sure as hell it would take a lot of convincing to make me go down there.<p>

Glenn shone his flashlight around some more to get a better view before responding, "Well, yeah," he hesitated as he continued to observe, "It's the only place that goes down. Never been down there before, who would want to?"

All of us stared at him, and although he looked disappointed, he went on to explain that he wanted to go down there alone anyways, that he didn't want us following behind him. It made sense, so I wasn't going to complain. Andrea insisted that someone go with him as backup, but each time he refused.

After a small pause, he finally gave in, "I'll take _one_ person only," he started and Rick moved to volunteer, but Glenn quickly shot him down, "Not you. You're good with a gun and I'd feel better if you were watching the doors." He pointed to Andrea and told her to stay behind with Rick in the store (which I wasn't much comfortable with), and instructed Morales and Jacqui to stay up there in case of anything going wrong. Which left me.

"Uhh…" I hesitated, "I guess that means I'm going, right?"

"I guess so." He said, and sounded gloomy about it. Thanks, Glenn.

I cleared my throat and ran my fingers through my hair, "Right, well," I turned to Rick and he gave me a quick 'be careful' look, "after you." I motioned to the ladder, to which he cautiously slid down.

When I joined him down there, I looked back up at Rick and shielded my eyes from Andrea's flashlight, "Not in the eyes." I grumbled, and gave a small wave to Rick.

I let Glenn lead the way, and nearly had a heart attack when he accidentally stepped on the tail of a rat, causing it to squeal and break the silence. "Be careful!" I whispered.

"Sorry." He whispered back, shining the light down at his feet.

We took small steps as we progressed through the tunnel, and because of the constant obstacles lingering around, I moved closer to him and kept one hand on his shoulder.

I could tell he wanted to make small talk, but I was too busy watching where my feet were going to pay attention to learning about him. We have time for that later.

"There.." I started, waiting to get closer to get a better look, "There's a gate up ahead."

"Yep, Jacqui was right, there's a sewer tunnel," he agreed, "How could we get through?"

I shook my head, "We won't be able to get through it," I glumly replied.

Glenn shone his flashlight around to get a clearer look inside, only for us to be face to face with a walker eating one of rats. Good news, it was eating those disgusting rodents. Bad news, it was growling at us and trying to reach us through the gates. That's cute.

I shuddered at its hisses and smacked its hand away, "Shut up," I grunted and grabbed Glenn's shoulder, "Come on, let's go back."

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><p><em>Thanks for the reviews guys, sorry for the short-ish chapter. Hope everyone enjoys their new years!<em>

_Padme4000:__ as always, thank you for your review_

_Willow the Collie: __no they're in the story, thanks_

_ChaosUmbrella:__ thanks you, and whether they're a thing or not? Who knows? :D_

_Chlexfan10:__ I'm agreeing on the Rick part, I should've fixed that. Sorry_

_Guccileopard:__ my brain melts from talking to u….just kidding I love you_

_Merle Dixon__: im going to kick your ass for hitting isabelle._


	14. Chapter 14

_Woot! 5,000 hits :D Love you guys _ _Let's get to 10,000 and celebrate together! Dedicate this chapter to guccileopard for being awesome as always, and I would put a heart but ffnet hates hearts so (heart)._

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><p>We tried to make our way back to the ladder as quietly as possible to not attract any more walkers down here, but it was hard with the water sloshing around our feet and the occasional accidental stepping on a rodent. I mean, they deserved it but could they be a little more considerate?<p>

"How's your lip?" Glenn asked before we reached the ladder.

"Not too bad. He didn't hit me _that_ hard." I boasted since I didn't want to look like just some other weak girl, damsel in distress, whatever you wanna call it.

"Sure as hell looked like it." He retorted, not in a hurtful way though, I knew he was asking out of concern, but I already had Rick looking over me 24/7.

I rolled my eyes, "Well, I'm fine." I stopped myself before getting harsh, because I know I wouldn't have meant much of it.

I climbed up the ladder first, with Glenn following behind, and the two of us met with the group in the store. Before I was able to explain the situation to them, one of the walkers had already slammed a rock into the glass. It won't be long before they get through the flimsy second set of doors.

We rushed upstairs to the roof, and ignoring Merle's obnoxious remarks, I explained the obstacle in the way of getting to a sewer tunnel. I could feel their disappointment, but hell I survived this long, I'm sure we can find a way back to this refugee camp they've mentioned.

Rick was leaning over the edge, surveying the ruins with binoculars, where the group met him. I, personally, did not trust having my back to Merle, so I kept an eye on him while they all devised our plan of escape. Which brought me to the question of what the hell we were going to do with Merle – arrest him? No jail. Kick him out? Yeah right, besides Rick wouldn't be able to bring himself to sending a man out there on his own. Punish him? As much as I wanted that, the chances of the group agreeing to any sort of penalty are slim.

"Yeah but they were feeding, they were distracted!" I overhead Glenn argue against Rick's choice of getting to one of the box trucks in the streets, risky – but worth it.

"Can we distract them again?" Rick asked, putting the binoculars down.

"Right, kid's on to something," Merle interrupted, and to my surprise it wasn't just some sexual offer or racial slur, "A diversion."

"God, give it a rest," Jacqui cut in, but I wanted to avoid any insults being thrown in, so I spoke up, "He's right. A diversion is our best chance of getting out of here. I _know_ the walkers, or geeks –whatever, can be easily outsmarted."

"Right," Glenn added skeptically, "What are we supposed to do? Just make a run for it like you guys did?"

"No, no," I corrected, man this kid was paranoid, "The walkers are drawn by sound and the smell of the living, they don't attack each other because they know if something is dead or not so if someone can-"

Glenn must've known where I was heading with my idea, and I could already see the fear in his eyes, "You're saying," he began, "you're saying w-we're gonna have to _smell_ like them?"

Rick sighed and I nodded, "It's not going to be the nicest smell ever but it's not just our best chance of getting out, but our _only_ chance."

Glenn shook his head, and I had a feeling he already knew that the group would be volunteering him to go.

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><p>"If bad ideas were an Olympic event, this would take the gold." Glenn muttered sarcastically. I snickered at his sense of humor, at least someone can keep me laughing now.<p>

Morales, clearly doubtful of the plan, tried to stop Rick from gathering the clothes from the rack, "He's right, Rick. Just stop for a second and take some time to think this through."

"How much time?" Rick retorted, "They already got through one set of doors, that glass won't hold together." He tossed heavy duty gloves and work shirt to Glenn first, and that established the fact that he'd be the one going outside for the distraction.

Trust me, I tried to volunteer on the way back to the where we met the rest of the group in the first, but Rick flat out refused – something about not wanting to put me in danger anymore. I understood where he was coming from, but it annoyed me that he could be so overprotective sometimes. After some nagging, he explained that the separate group someone to lead them, so I dropped it.

After dragging in a dead walker from outside, Rick smashed the glass pane that held an axe with a crowbar. I really hope I can keep that axe later.

He was about to use the axe to smash the walker to shit, but he immediately dropped the axe and removed his helmet to kneel next to it. The hell was he doing?

Rick reached into its pocket and pulled the walker's ID out of his wallet, reading out the details and then handing it over to Glenn, who hesitated to grab it. I'm sure he was just as confused as everyone else.

I had a feeling this was some sort of funeral, which was nice, but unusual since we'd never done that before with any other walkers.

I kept my mouth shut and just waited for him to speak.

"This man used to be like us, had a family, worried about the bills – the superbowl." He paused for a moment to look over the slightly decomposed body, "If I find my sister, I'm gonna tell her about Wayne." I felt sort of…guilty for not thinking about walkers like this before. I always just saw them as something to brutally murder for what they did to my friends (hopefully not my family), but hearing that – it didn't change much about how I felt about killing but it certainly made me think about the walkers we'd encountered before and their lives before the world had gone to shit.

Glenn spoke up before Rick was about to bludgeon the walker, "He was an organ donor." Well that made this a lot easier, knowing that this is what the man would have wanted – not exactly in the most proper way, but still.

I was a little confused at the group's reactions to the walker being smashed to mush, but it was probably because I've become somewhat desensitized to this – and that really scares the hell out of me. I still can't really handle dead bodies, but seeing that horse getting torn apart by the walkers kinda did it for me. I let Andrea lean into me to shield her eyes and herself. As much as I didn't want the group getting used to this, I hoped they would since the world isn't gonna get any prettier from now on.

I had to admit though; the smell wasn't going to be something I'd be getting used to anytime soon.

Rick started with the legs and then the arms, which must have been tiring since he then handed the axe and the helmet to Morales. I was sympathetic to Glenn when he expressed that he was going to hurl, I knew that feeling, so I stood by him with my hand running over his back for support.

We all nodded after Rick asked if we were ready, and everyone began to dig into the guts of the walker. I dug in and clawed out several parts of its intestine to jokingly place around Glenn's shoulders as a boa. Well apparently it wasn't that funny, because as soon as I did, he threw up all over my boots. Curse my dark sense of humor…

I cringed and apologized quietly, then continued to smear more blood and guts all over his coat. The smell, plus with his vomit, was causing my stomach to churn already. You can keep it down, Isabelle. At least try to.

Once both Rick and Glenn were generously smeared with the insides of the walker, Rick asked if it was enough.

"More than enough." I pulled off my gloves to pinch my nose, "Get out of here, please." Didn't think I'd get a smile in response, but I did and I was glad that at least he could appreciate my jokes, I'll give Glenn some time to get used to it.

"What about Dixon?" T-Dog asked. 'What about him?' was what I wanted to say, still annoyed from our little "disagreement" earlier, but Rick was the one who handcuffed him, so I left it to him.

Rick stuffed his hand into his pocket to pull out a key, to which he tossed to T-Dog. They both shared a nod and it make me a little concerned that T-Dog would be going up there by himself to unlock Merle.

Glenn looked antsy to leave, but to be honest, I think Rick had something else in mind. He asked for the axe from Morales, and bluntly said, "We need more guts." I don't think the group was too excited about that.

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><p>Just before stepping outside, Rick turned and instructed all of us to be ready for when they get the truck, and I mouthed 'be careful' to Rick. I tried not to make myself <em>too<em> worried, but well, it's kinda hard to when someone you care about (but you know they can take care of themselves) is heading out into a city full of mindless cannibals.

I ran ahead of the group upstairs after snatching the binoculars from Morales, while also ignoring his bitching, eager to track Rick and Glenn's progress through the city. The group caught up behind me, and I leaned over the small wall of the building to scan the city for them.

"Can't see them…" I muttered under my breath, annoyed. There were too many things obstructing my view, and I suppose it was good I couldn't find them because that meant we did a pretty good job making them look and smell like walkers.

My eyes roamed around, when the jerky movements caught my eye. Found them!

They were doing pretty well blending in, their stiff movements, slow pace, tilted heads really helped. I gasped when I saw a couple turn their heads to them, but relaxed when they only sniffed them, hissed, and walked away. What a relief. This really was going to work!

Behind me, I could hear T-Dog trying to communicate with the survivors back at the camp, "T-Dog to base camp, can you hear me? Hello? T-Dog to base camp!" He repeated worriedly.

I could hear some static, but I tuned it out to concentrate on Glenn and Rick. I overheard bits and pieces of their conversation, although a majority of it was mainly "can you hear me?" or "can you repeat that?". I don't like radios and I know if I were in his position, I would've just smashed it from frustration like some caveman. But unlike me, T-Dog had patience, and was able to tell the survivors our location and current predicament.

I put the binoculars down for a moment to turn back to the group, "Guys, get your stuff ready," I instructed, "We gotta bounce as soon as they get to the truck."

Just as I was about to take another peek through the binoculars, I could hear the distinct roar of thunder above us. Oh shit, please, please, _please_ don't rain. At least not right now.

I shoved the binoculars into Morales' hands, "Keep your eyes on them." I ordered before running to Glenn's bag to retrieve my foldable shovel.

"Wait!" I heard Andrea call me from behind, but I ignored it and went to the door.

She firmly gripped my forearm and pulled me back, "Where the hell do you think you're going?" She demanded.

"I need to do something!" I yelled back, reaching for the door handle.

"Isabelle, don't." She warned, "You know Rick wants you to stay here."

I sighed and stared down, she was right. But did I want to admit that? Hell no.

I really wanted to kick something, but instead kept it together and faced her, "Fine. I believe you." I said before dropping the shovel, "But if anything happens…" I trailed off, hoping for her to get the message. She nodded in agreement and we both went back to Morales.

Thankfully, he handed me the binoculars again, and my eyes roamed to find them since I'd lost them before.

My heart beat quickened when I saw them being chased by about forty to fifty walkers, and even when I saw Rick turn around and thrust the axe into several of their heads, I still had the urge to run down there and take care of them myself.

God damn having emotions.

I didn't want to watch anymore, and I know the group thought I was being indecisive by taking the binoculars and then giving them back, but I needed to be ready. I paced back and forth behind the group, because if anything happened to them down there, I'm not sure I'd be able to stomach witnessing it.

"They ain't gonna make it…" Merle mumbled to himself and I tried to keep it cool, but I just couldn't and didn't want to hear it. I stopped pacing and stopped to give him a swift slap to his face, the same way he hit me.

"Shut your fucking mouth!" I screamed, only for him to snort, call me a "bitch", and have the nerve to spit on me.

I know I shouldn't ever attack a man who was handcuffed and can't defend himself, but I didn't give a fuck anymore, he was getting on my last god damn nerve. I lunged at him to throw a punch to his nose, causing blood to spurt out and trickle down to his lips. Getting ready for another fist to his jaw, I was pulled off him by T-Dog and Morales, who were both trying to calm me down.

Honestly, if it weren't for Morales and T-Dog holding me back, I think I would've killed that motherfucker – handcuffs or no handcuffs.

Jacqui kept me away from Merle, trying to talk me down while the storm passed. It rained for several moments, and we just…waited. Kept waiting, kept our hopes up.

I didn't talk much either; I was just seated on the wet cement, waiting for anything.

"Isabelle, you okay?" Jacqui asked in a motherly way, and even though it annoyed me, I geuninely appreciated her concern.

"Yeah, just tired and-"

Everyone's heads perked as soon as we heard an engine rev up and tires screech, they made it! I pulled myself up and ran over to snatch the binoculars from Morales, oh my god they actually fucking made it!

We noticed that they began driving away in the truck, and Andrea panicked, "They're leaving! They're leaving us!"

"No, no they're not," I assured her, "They wouldn't. They're creating a distraction."

We stood there, watching the truck get farther and farther away - when we heard a car alarm ring in the distance and static come from the radio, followed by Glenn's voice, "Those geeks in front of the store are facing the street! Meet us there and be ready!" He hastily ordered.

"Come on, let's go! Let's go!" Morales yelled, throwing the groups' bags over his shoulders and handing the rest to us.

I slung Glenn's bag on my shoulder and picked up my shovel I'd dropped earlier, keeping the door open for the rest of the group to descend the stairs. T-Dog was still on the roof though, and I was waiting for him.

"Don't leave me here! You can't leave me here! Man you can't leave me here!" I could hear Merle yelling, pleading from his restraints. T-Dog and I stared at each other, and I nodded for him to go back and unlock him, our group would be able to handle Merle. At least that's what I hoped.

"I'll meet you down there! Go!" T-Dog told me, and even though I really didn't want to leave him up there alone with Merle, I followed his instructions and joined the group downstairs.

I heard more and more shouts from the roof, so I stayed at the bottom of the stairwell to wait for T-Dog. When he finally reached down here, I looked up and around him shocked, he was…alone. I tried to speak, but I choked over my words, and the look in his eyes told me everything I needed to know.

"What's done is done, T-Dog," I began but was soon interrupted by the fragile glass creaking, "We'll talk later, let's go!" I added quickly, running to get past the store.

We reached the metal door, and before Jacqui and Andrea pulled the chain to bring the door up, Morales stopped them to press his ear to the door. It was silent. He waited a little longer since nobody wanted to take the risk of opening the door to be face to face with a group of walkers.

"Just open it! Now!" I ordered as soon as I heard the glass windows shatter from the store and the walkers shuffling.

Jacqui and Andrea pulled down the chain to lift the door, and thank god it was the box truck we'd been praying for. The back door flew open and Rick extended his arms to reach for the bags that Morales and I were throwing in. T-Dog stayed at our rear, keeping an eye out while rushing us to get the hell in the truck and out of there.

We all jumped into the back and just in time, Rick took off and I was able to kick several walkers away for Morales to close the back door. I sat there, panting and trying to catch my breath, before jumping into the front seat with Rick, on the brink of bursting into tears.

* * *

><p>The ride was just…scarily silent. We knew what happened; we knew Merle was left behind somehow. I <em>knew<em> it wasn't on purpose, but the thought of it just made me start to shake.

T-Dog broke the silence with a guilt-ridden tone, "I dropped the damn key."

I pinched the bridge of my nose to keep myself from crying, but with my hands shaking it was nearly impossible. It's hard to explain why I was getting emotional, but can you imagine punching and yelling at someone and then finding out they're being left for dead on some fucking rooftop? I was also sympathizing with T-Dog, knowing you could've done something to save that person and you fucked it up somehow, it _kills_ you inside – and it never leaves your conscience. You're stuck with that thought for the rest of your life.

I felt Rick grab my hand and give me a gentle squeeze, which calmed me somewhat but I still felt like a little whiny bitch for crying to myself, when it should be T-Dog feeling upset.

The group fell back to silence after T-Dog's confession as if they seemed…alright with it. Yes, I hated the man and I wanted to kill him, but I can't stomach the idea of him up there. I sniffled, trying my best to stay quiet and keeping my hand interlocked with Rick's, yeah it was unsafe with him having just one hand on the wheel but there wasn't anyone else on the road and it was starting to help.

"Where's Glenn?" Andrea asked, breaking the silence once again.

I noticed Rick's mouth tug into a small smile, "He found himself a nice ride." Seeing him smile, even a small one, brought one on my face as well, and I closed my eyes to get the most rest I could get. Hopefully when I wake up we'll be there already so I can just have some time away from everyone…

* * *

><p>I woke up when Glenn drove past us with that stupid car alarm blaring and stretched in my seat. I probably slept for less than an hour or so, but any amount of sleep was better than nothing. I was still surprised that it'd been the same day we met the survivors; I was just about ready to crash.<p>

Glenn drove ahead of us, and I went back to closing my eyes. They can wake me up some other tim-

The truck pulled to a stop in front of an isolated camp, so my worries of walkers following us flew out the window.

Morales opened the back door for T-Dog, Andrea, and Jacqui to get out; telling us to come outside and meet everybody before he left to join his family.

I unbuckled my seat belt and leaned forward to rub my tired eyes with my palms. The door to my right opened and it startled me, but it was just Rick opening the door for me. I gave him a small smile, but I didn't want to keep him waiting, while at the same time I really wasn't in the mood to be meeting more people.

"Go meet the others. You're the civil one in our rela-" whoops, word vomit, "yeah I don't like people." I quickly corrected myself. That's awkward.

He tugged my hand, "It won't be that bad, Isabelle."

"I'm tired." I whined, trying to playfully pull my hand back.

"I'll carry you if I have to."

I sighed, as much as I loved the idea of him carrying me there, I don't want the groups impression of me to be that I was some lazy diva. "Fine." I muttered, and grabbed his hand to pull myself out of the truck. "But if I'm cranky it's your fault." I joked, nudging him with my elbow.

We both started walking to the camp, and I was looking around to absorb my surroundings. I noticed the group waiting for us, along with the guys we were with earlier, and almost jumped when I saw a small freckled boy run from the crowd. Rick saw him too, and they both ran to each other, where the boy jumped into his arms.

"Rick!" He shouted and nearly knocked Rick off his balance. I felt _really_ out of place, it was just a big sea of emotions and as selfish as this sounds, I was drained. Can't I just go to sleep? Would anyone notice if I slipped back into the truck and passed out?

"Carl get back here!" A tall woman emerged from the crowd to grab her son, but then as soon as she laid her eyes on Rick she ran and joined the embrace.

This must've been some family reunion, because_ another_ guy followed, a tall bulky guy, to run over and shake hands with Rick, since he wouldn't have been able to fit in the hug…

I just stayed behind, leaning against the truck, me being my awkward self, and watched the family reunion. I didn't know anyone here, I didn't fit in. And no, I wasn't trying to be bitter and miserable; I just wasn't sure what to do. Introduce myself? Nah, never was good at those.

Don't get me wrong either, I was happy as hell for Rick. And it was relieving to finally meet – er well see – Shane, Lori, and Carl. If I weren't so damn exhausted, I'd be doing all kinds of acrobatic flips in celebration.

My eyes met Shane's and he looked over to Rick with a look of concern over his face, probably wondering just who the hell I was. I pursed my lips into a thin line and finally stepped forward casually with my hands in my pockets. I hate introductions and by the way I presented myself, I'm sure they got that feeling as well.

"I'm uh – I'm Isabelle. I met Rick somewhere near Atlanta and we stuck together for a while…"

"How's Atlanta?" He asked, and man I had to look up at him, his height was intimidating to my small frame.

"Shit-tacular." I replied dryly, and covered my mouth quickly to clear my throat for forgetting there was a damn kid there. Whoops.

The lanky woman, Lori, stepped forward and put her hand on Shane's shoulder, "Maybe you should introduce her to everyone." She laughed, and I was starting to see the resemblance with her and Rick.

"Yeah. Right," he introduced his wife and son first, "This is my wife, Lori, and my son, Carl…" he ruffled Carl's hair and I flashed him a small smile, it was nice to finally see a kid. I felt bad that he had to live in this world though…

"That's the Morales family," He pointed to Morales, surrounded by his tired looking wife and two kids, a boy and a girl.

"- Dale, along with Amy and Andrea," Dale was sitting atop a rundown RV, but I appreciated the small wave he gave and reminded myself later to ask if he had another fisherman's hat. Amy and Andrea were at the back of the group though, hugging and I figured I'd introduce myself later.

"- Glenn and T-Dog," Glad to know Glenn made it back in one piece, but was growing concerned for T-Dog. I need to talk to him later.

"- Ed, Carol, and Sophia," I noticed how tight the girl clung to her mother, while the man, Ed, gave me an almost sneering look.

"- Jacqui," Man, she looked just as tired as me.

"- Jim," He was by the RV too, along with Dale, but he also gave me a welcoming wave.

"- And…Daryl…" I extended my neck to look around, only to see a man, disheveled and pacing around with a crossbow held close to his chest. I stared until he made brief eye contact, to which I looked away immediately. Why did I get the feeling he didn't like me?

"There's more families 'round the camp, so I think you'll be able to meet them at dinner." He finished and returned to speak to Rick, to catch up. The rest of the group returned to where they were earlier and I left to go back to the box truck to get my things.

I went to the back and opened the door and scanned for my bag. Wait, right. It's in Atlanta. Awesome. Oh _and_ Rick's bag of guns. Fan – fucking – tastic.

* * *

><p><em>Finally she meets the group! It only took 14 chapters! :D<em>

_Thanks for putting up with my story so far folks, and unfortunately due to the break ending soon, I have to go back to reality *cries* so updates might be a little slower._

_Review time:_

_Guccileopard: __ so so so true, I was gonna make him lose it at first, but then I really thought about it and was like actually…he'd storm off._

_Merle Dixon:__ thanks for the kind words but im still gonna call you stumpy_

_Padme4000: __Isabelle's got some balls, eh? Just kidding she's a sissy like me ;p_

_Paperlanterns86:__ I agree that he needs attention from someone, and that someone is me :D_

_Chlexfan10:__ she is sure as shit lucky, man, I'm too much of a sissy I wouldn't turned a blind eye and been like 'nothing going on here', but obviously felt bad about it later._

_Jack-chan88:__ woot! Another follower! Let's party now :D_

_Catastros__: I hope their family is alright too, who knows what'll happen, but I can guarantee you'll be seeing them again ;)_

_Leyshla Gisel__: I was wondering where you went! I thought you disappeared on meh _


	15. Chapter 15

_I love all my readers, just wanted to throw that out there! _

_Also there is gonna be some sexual stuff up ahead, I'll let you know so you can skip it if you want, it's not smut, just well…classy I suppose. Anyways, on to the story!_

_edit: I'm about to publish but i added this in just before publishing...this is seriously my first smexy scene and I'm super nervous you guys...have mercy. :p_

* * *

><p>I left the truck to let the others get their things, man I really missed my bag. It had extra clothes, food, among other important things like my phone, Jane's cigarettes and lighter, maybe a book or two…<p>

I made my way to the RV and hung out there for a bit, checking out some of Dale's books. I talked to Dale quite a bit too, he was a pretty nice guy, and he knew almost _everything_ about what was going on in the camp.

Glenn joined me in the RV for a little bit, he seemed nervous too, but I was told that that's just how he is sometimes. "You okay?" I asked, concerned since he's probably exhausted from the day's events.

"Yeah, fine. Tired and worried in general." He replied with a shaken tone.

I raised an eyebrow, "About?"

"Dixon. Daryl Dixon, he won't be happy when he hears about his brother."

I sighed, "Where is he?"

He shrugged his shoulders and removed his baseball cap to run his fingers through his hair, "I don't really know. He might've left to go hunting." Doesn't seem very smart to be hunting this late, but hey, to each their own.

"Do you think he knows?"

He shook his head in uncertainty, "Maybe, maybe not. All I know is that I don't want to be there when he actually _hears _it from someone."

He seemed to have a lot on his mind, so I figured I should change the subject, "What were you before all this shit happened?

At first, he drummed his fingers on the table nervously, probably trying to string together a sentence. He lifted his head up and finally answered, "I was a pizza delivery guy, that's how I know all the shortcuts."

"Interesting, that's a pretty useful thing to know."

He crinkled his eyebrows in deep thought before asking me the same thing, but in a different way, "What the hell is someone like you doing all the way down here in Georgia?"

I choked back a laugh, "I ask myself the same thing." He gave a small chuckle, at least I'm getting somewhere now. "I was going to basic training for the Army and I had friends here, so I thought I'd stick around for a bit."

I'm glad he was smart and didn't ask about my friends, so I went ahead and asked him another question, "How'd you find the group?"

"I – I went to a refugee camp, it was overrun but I met T-Dog there and we tried to use the highway to get out of Atlanta, but it was just clogged up. We met Dale, Andrea and Amy there in the RV so we stuck with them and then we met up with the others there. What about you?"

I laughed as I recalled the memory, "I was trying to steal guns from a police station."

He smiled, "How'd that go?"

"Pretty good actually, he didn't kill me so I guess we started on a good note."

"You guys…are pretty late to join."

I scoffed, "Yeah, I know. I was on my own for a bit and so was Rick."

I'd say this conversation was going pretty well, at least we both were distracting ourselves from all our troubles.

"So…" He began, but stopped as if he were having an internal conflict of some sort.

"So…?" I repeated, preparing myself for the question I already knew he was going to ask.

"…you and Rick?" The funny thing was that as soon as he asked, I think he immediately regret it. I wasn't mad or anything, trust me, it's just that's not something I wanted to be thinking about at the moment. Regardless, I gave him a small smile to show I wasn't upset and answered, "I honestly don't know, Glenn."

"You…don't know?" He asked, confused. He must be new to the dynamic of relationships.

"Yeah, Glenn, I don't know," I spat before realizing he was just confused and not stupid, "Look, sorry. It's just…I really don't fucking know, it's a big god damn mystery." What's another mystery is why I'm even working myself up over this. Why can't I just turn off emotions and not care for people or what they think of me? Life would be so much easier that way.

"Well…do you like him?"

I snickered, "What are you, Dr. Phil now?"

He threw his hands up in defense, "I'm just trying to help keep our minds off of things."

Well he had a point there, "Okay, yes, I do like him."

"Does he like you?"

"I – I think so." I stammered…he _has_ kissed me multiple times, protected me, maybe even saved my life once or twice…

Glenn interrupted my thoughts, "It looks like it."

"Well then he likes me, doesn't he?" No shit, Isabelle. You just answered your own question.

"Then you're together." It's that simple? It can't be.

I sighed and lightly bashed my forehead on the table, "It's not that easy, Glenn." I mumbled. I brought my head back up and looked at him, "Thanks for the advice though, even though it didn't do much, I still really appreciate it."

I pushed myself out of my seat and gave him a quick smile before leaving the RV, I hope he doesn't think I'm some bitch, hopefully he just understands that I'm terrible at taking advice.

I ran into T-Dog on the way out, and before he could disappear I brought up the subject of Daryl.

He broke off eye contact for a brief second before answering, "I think he went out hunting. He'll probably be back early morning."

"Listen, T-Dog, about Merle…" I paused to wait for his reaction before continuing, "I've had kind of a similar experience before..."

He finally met eye contact with me by narrowing his eyes, "You know what it's like to leave someone chained to a roof surrounded by walkers because you dropped a damn key?" I know he wasn't trying to scare or intimidate me, he just wanted space like I did earlier.

"N-no," I hesitated, "I don't. But sometimes it helps to talk about it." Forgot to mention that I can be stubborn, a bit hypocritical since I'm usually nosy about other people's problems but can't even talk about my own. It's a bad habit, alright?

He leaned against the door to the RV, pinching the bridge of his nose, "I appreciate it. But I need some time to myself."

I nodded my head in understanding; I just hope he doesn't bottle it up, "Right. Let me know if you need anything."

"I will." He groaned and left into the RV, that was most definitely my sign to leave.

Remember when I asked if anyone would notice me sneaking in the box truck to take a nap? I think I'll take that chance, since it's most likely the only alone time I'll have for a long while.

* * *

><p>I was able to sneak away from the camp to get back into the box truck after some awkward introductions here and there.<p>

Since we've arrived, I haven't really seen Rick either, which didn't bother me too much. I still felt weird here though, real out of place.

Once I jumped into the truck, I tried to throw my head back and fall asleep, but that didn't work. Tried lying down in the seats, didn't work either. Being around so many families plagued me with worry about my own…

Is my brother okay? How about my mom? Where _is_ my brother?

Will I even get to see them again?

I sunk my head, feeling selfish since there are plenty of others here who don't know where their families are or if they're even alive.

But regardless, that doesn't mean I can't sit here and miss my family. Especially my dad.

Damn, it's been a while since I really thought about my dad. Makes me wonder what the hell he'd do in this situation, probably play the hero. I chuckled to myself as I remembered the happy memories I shared before I lost him.

I need to distract myself right now, think happy thoughts, Isabelle – it'll be better to stay optimistic rather than pessimistic.

I placed my hand on the glove box, thinking about what could be inside. Never met a box truck driver before, so I haven't the slightest clue about what's inside – but hopefully it's booze. Nothing better than getting shitfaced to temporarily forget your problems…

Thankfully, it was unlocked and the light was working, so I took a peek inside. Let's see, cigarettes, a lighter, and a flashlight, some other things that I don't care much about. Well…I _do_ need a flashlight and a lighter _could_ come in handy…so I might as well take the cigarettes. Hell, you never know – they could be the new currency.

Never tried these before either, and I probably won't have the longest life span in this new world, so might as well try! And I know it's bad to start such a nasty habit, but come on, I can't find anything else to do.

I plucked one cigarette and rolled it in my fingers before sticking it in my mouth. I checked that the windows were open a little, so I that I don't accidentally off myself.

I didn't light it yet, but it felt weird in my mouth, probably because I've never touched these before in my life. I grabbed the lighter and put it right to the tip, waiting for it to light.

And as soon as I felt the smoke enter my lungs…I gagged and coughed. How the fuck can anyone smoke this shit?

After coughing up what felt like a lobe of my lung, I decided to try again. I actually was starting to like the smell. Well, I always liked the smell but the whole lung cancer thing never really appealed to me.

I tried taking another puff, and I could feel my throat shrivel from not being used to the abuse I was putting it through – but I kept trying.

Several more puffs, and I felt to be getting the hang of it. Starting to enjoy the taste too.

About halfway through, I got bored with it though and tossed it out the window. I only like the smoke really.

I dug more into the glove box, I found some documents, headphones, and a pair of sunglasses that were pretty badass looking. They were those round 60s style ones, with a sepia lens and they looked like they'd protect me well enough from the sun. I'm just lucky tonight.

What would make my night better though, is if I actually had some music to listen to. I didn't want to take the risk of people knowing I was in here, and I don't think the radio would be playing anything anyways. Since I'm ingenuitive, I decided to hum to myself any Lady Gaga song I could think of and close my eyes, which was _Dance in the Dark_ at the moment.

_Baby loves to dance in the dark, _

'_Cause when he's looking she falls apart…_

* * *

><p>I dozed off for maybe one or two hours, and when Rick found me I'm sure he thought I was high or something, since I had a pack of cigarettes in one hand and my sunglasses on my face.<p>

He tapped on the window and tried to open the door, but instead of unlocking the door I glared at him through narrowed eyes, even though he probably didn't see them with my sunglasses on.

I pushed the door open to let one of my legs dangle, "Yeah?" I asked, tired as hell. Damn it, I just want a good night's sleep.

"I've been looking for ya," he started, reaching for my hand, "We're about to have a bonfire and eat dinner."

I pulled the sunglasses off my face and clipped them on the collar of my shirt, "A bonfire? Rick, you know I'm tired, I'll probably trip and faceplant into the fire."

He chuckled, "Come on, Isabelle, they want to meet you."

I groaned in response, "Can't they…I don't know, wait?"

"The kids have to go to sleep soon, and they wanted to meet you before their bedtime.

(Sexy stuff ahead…)

I rolled my eyes since I had something else on my mind, "They can wait." I murmured as I tugged his shirt, along with him, of course.

I led the way back into the seat of the truck where he fell on top of me and returned the kisses to my jawline, my neck (how the hell did he know my sensitive spots?) and down to my collarbone. My hands slid down to his chest to unbutton his shirt, boy was it getting hot in here and someone was going to have to take their clothes off!

I reached for his belt, but he pulled away suddenly, "What?" I breathed, annoyed at him for stopping and leaving me wanting more.

"You still have clothes on." He complained, but hell, I was more than willing to comply!

We flipped over so that I was straddling his waist, I pulled my shirt over my head and threw it to the side – returning to go for his belt.

I'm not sure how the hell we both ended up naked so quickly, but it's exactly what I wanted – skipping the foreplay and sweet talk and getting right down to it, just the way I liked it. No more sweet, gentleman Rick.

This was just more raw than anything – to alleviate our sexual tension, a real breather.

He kept me waiting a bit though, teasing me with his hands roaming around, worshipping my body. I didn't mind too much though since I was enjoying seeing the way his rolled his head back in response to me straddling him.

He finally set the pace by bucking his hips, unexpectedly, but I made damn well sure that I'd stay in power.

Our bodies rocked back and forth, creating just the perfect rhythm for both of us. What just made it a hell of a lot more exciting was that we both cupped each other's mouths so we wouldn't bring attention to ourselves, as much as I wanted to hear him enjoy himself.

And I have no idea where this dominant side of Rick came from because as soon as I _thought_ I was in control, he decided to take that all away from me in just…ways you couldn't imagine, ways I can't even put into words. I was literally fucked speechless.

We both collapsed after hitting our peaks, or well I _thought_ he was done, not that I would've minded to keep going. I was so tender, sensitive to his every touch, lick, and suck.

Our pants filled the truck, and when we both finished again we lay there trying to catch our breaths. And I couldn't keep this big grin off my face, neither could he. I was actually surprised too, I expected him to be embarrassed or want to leave, but instead he ran his fingers through my hair and gave me a sweet kiss. Rough and dirty one moment, sweet and passionate the next – I am loving this.

I reached my hand under the seat to pull out a cigarette and lighter, before sticking it in my mouth, I asked quickly, "You don't mind, right?"

He shook his head and even grabbed one too. Didn't expect that, and hell I never thought I'd smoke after mind-blowing sex since that only happens in movies, but it's a habit I hope to soon develop.

I lit it for him and rested my head on his chest, taking in the scent of sweat and cigarette smoke.

(Sexy times over)

* * *

><p>I'm not sure how long I was passed out for, but I clearly didn't get enough sleep because the light tapping in the window startled me awake.<p>

He raised an eyebrow, he looked concerned and pointed to the door. Forgot it was locked, this is embarrassing for him to find me like this…

"You okay?" He asked, holding his hand out to get me out of the truck.

"Yeah," I rubbed the back of my head and blinked several times, "Just a dream I had."

Just a fucking dream. Sigh.

"I was told you'd be here," He smiled and gave me a small kiss on the lips, "We're about to have dinner and I didn't want you to miss out." I had a feeling it was Dale who told him, I swear that man is hiding all kinds of secrets under his fisherman's hat.

"Right, dinner," I groaned and rubbed my eyes, "I'll be there. Don't worry."

"I know, I just didn't want to go without you." I pouted, but I don't think he could see. Regardless, that was adorable and now I can't say no to dinner.

I smiled at him and slid my hands up his chest, lacing them about the back of his neck to pull him into a gentle kiss.

"Only because you asked so nicely." I murmured, pulling him into another kiss before we left the truck for dinner.

* * *

><p>I'd been here for only maybe two or three hours, and I felt kinda bad for not really getting to know Lori and Shane, but can you blame me? I didn't want to barge in on their reunion, but then again…I should've met up with then. Oh well, I guess I have this dinner time to share more about myself, not sure my story is exactly child friendly though.<p>

I took a seat next to Rick and scooted close to him – wait a minute. I sunk my head and sighed since I _know_ someone is going to ask about us. What am I going to say? Do I say I'm his girlfriend? Did he even introduce me to his sister and brother-in-law as his girlfriend? Did he even talk about me?

Lori came up and took the seat next to me, while Shane next to Rick and they started talking, so I quickly threw those thoughts away and tried to look normal and totally not anxious about my relationship status with Rick…

"Hey," I think she was trying to remember my name, since she paused and finally drawled out, "Isabelle, right?"

I gave a small smile and nodded, and she quickly apologized, "Sorry, so many things going on around here I can barely keep track of the days."

"Don't worry about it," I assured, "I assume you're feeling a lot better with Rick around?"

She sighed, "Oh, definitely. It's helping Carl a lot too, he really missed him." I was just about to continue the conversation, but she placed her hand on my shoulder and continued speaking, "I wanted to thank you for helping him get here."

Oh.

"Me? Lori, I think it was the other way around, _he_ was the one constantly saving my ass."

"He seemed to really enjoy your company then, he couldn't stop talking about you." I blushed, hoping she wouldn't notice. I wonder what exactly he introduced me as.

"How much did he tell you?" I hope I didn't sound like I was trying to interrogate her, well okay, maybe a little, but I actually was curious.

"He just talked about how you guys met, where you were, some things here and there about your personality."

"Ah, I see," Okay, didn't hear anything about a kiss or affectionate stuff, so I'll work off of what she told me and play it cool, "Yeah, I'd say I'm pretty damn lucky to have found him."

"He did say some other things…"

I had a feeling she was trying to get something out of me, so I smiled and asked, "Oh really? What?" I know you're probably thinking she was being a bitch or something, but I was starting to understand and really enjoy her sense of humor – it's a nice thing to have in dire times.

"Oh, well we shouldn't gossip when the boys are around," she raised her voice at the end of her sentence so Rick and Shane would hear that, "We can talk later."

I gave her a genuine grin, "Alright." Why did I look forward to that? I never gossiped before this, but it's probably because she's the first woman I've gotten to talk to in a long while and I can feel like an actual girl again.

Carol brought Sophia and Carl over once the food was done cooking. I've never had venison before but I'm fine with anything other than canned food. Carl ran over and joined his mom, where Sophia joined Carol across the fire and the other children joined their respective families. Not everyone was here tonight though, probably off doing their own thing.

"I like your glasses." Carl complimented, also reminding me that I was wearing them. I hope the group doesn't think I'm a dumbass for wearing sunglasses at night.

"Really? Thanks, dude, if I find another pair I'll give 'em to ya."

"Cool." I've always enjoyed the vocabulary of twelve year olds, "I don't think my mom would let me keep them though."

Lori turned and patted her son's head, "Course I would, sweetheart."

He rolled his eyes and groaned, "Mom…"

"Oh be quiet, Carl." She added, with a small kiss to his head.

I snickered at their little banter and went back to chatting with Carl, "Do you guys still have a bedtime?"

"Yeah," he groaned, "Carol takes all the kids to sleep after dinner and all the adults stay out here and talk about adult things…"

"Well...when you're older you're gonna wish you'd gotten more sleep. That's how I was when I started college." Shit, why did I talk about getting older? Oh god, please don't get mad at me, Lori, I hope they took it in a good way.

Carl shrugged and looked back up at me, "I guess." I held my breath, waiting for the depressing response about how he won't have a college to go to or something, "But I like staying up. I'm not a kid anymore."

Whew.

"You're right, you're not. You'll become a man soon, but it takes time – and lots of sleep." I added and felt a lot better when Lori smiled at me.

"Thanks." He drawled, and turned back to talking to his mom. I wasn't gonna bother them anymore, so I pushed myself up to go and get some venison to eat.

I returned and was about to dig in, when one of Morales' kids asked me something unexpected, "Are you and Rick girlfriend and boyfriend?" Immediately her mother apologized and scolded her daughter for asking 'inappropriate' questions, yet the question lingered in the air.

I froze with my mouth open (since I was about to take a bite) and glanced over to Rick, who froze as well. I shrugged at him and went back to eating, I didn't necessarily mean to ignore the question, I was just leaving it to him to answer.

"Uhh…" He stumbled a bit over his words before speaking, "Yes. We are." He smiled at the girl and threw him arm around my shoulders to give me a squeeze.

I definitely wasn't expecting that. Not one bit.

I heard Shane chuckle a bit at my reaction, since my eyes were basically saucers.

As soon as dinner was over and Carol took Sophia and Carl to bed, most of the group had left as well. It was only the ones I were familiar with: Amy, Andrea, Jacqui, Dale, Jim, Glenn, T-Dog, Shane, Lori, and Rick. Well, I was familiar with Morales, but he of course went to sleep with his family, completely understandable.

I was just about to join the others who'd left to get sleep, but brought back to reality when Shane spoke up, "So, Isabelle, why don't you tell the group more about yourself?"

I clasped my hands together, they were starting to feel really sweaty and it's not that I was uncomfortable with it (okay, maybe a little), it's just that…what if I scare them away? What if they hear my story and think I'm some fucked up chick who's been through too much? A liability? A ticking time bomb?

I hesitated before beginning to speak, "I – ah, well, I…" I felt Rick put his hand on my lower back and drum his fingers up my spine, which soothed me and was a sign of support. I sighed and straightened my back out, "Well, it's a _long_ story and I wouldn't want to bore you guys with it…" I hope that poor excuse works.

Shane leaned forward and placed a hand on his knee, "Well, we can listen."

Damn it.

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><p><em>Updates will be a little slower since school has resumed. Sorry guys!<em>

_Also, that's my first smexy scene, so sorry if it's bad or weird or whatever! I want to thank guccileopard for helping with it though!_

_Merle Dixon:__ it was only a punch, really. I think his ego is bruised more than his face_

_ChaosUmbrella__: thank you! I don't like kids but I'd be glad to see some if I were in that situation_

_Guccileopard:__ we'll see how shane develops…he _can_ still be "evil" in this one ;)_

_Chlexfan10:__ hahah I bet they would gossip like old ladies, I guess we'll see how their relationship develops _

_Leyshla Gisel:__i hope to!_

_Chi-chi45005:__Yikes, I got the same feeling_

_Twilightcity: __thanks! I love her story and I'm glad you're enjoying hers as well, I can't wait to see more feedback from you!_

_Doctorkaitlyn:__ woohoo you're back! *does weird dance* I missed ya, girl!_

_Everyone else, thanks for reading!_


	16. Chapter 16

_Wow! Sorry for the delays everyone, been a lot going on recently with school and all. Here's an update, I hope to get back on track with my updates. Also, on another note, where'd all my readers go? Seems like everyone disappeared. ;(_

_**Please read my author's note below!**_

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><p>"Shane…" Rick started, but I quickly cut him off, "Don't worry about it." I tried my best to reassure him with a smile, and I turned back to the rest of the group, "Well…I guess I should start with why I was in Georgia at the time…" I cleared my throat quickly and continued, "I was at Fort Ben-"<p>

"Fort Benning?" Shane interrupted.

I nodded, "Yeah, for basic training, why?"

"Well our plan was to go to Fort Benning. You know if it's in good shape?"

I shook my head, "Sorry, I haven't been there in, I don't know, at least over a month…I can't guarantee anything."

He immediately looked disappointed, but gestured for me to continue, "Right. So after basic training I was given leave before I get shipped out to AIT, and I decided to stay in Georgia since I had a good friend living here." I paused, "She got bit and died, I saw it all happen – the whole I don't know, transformation?" I shrugged but kept going, "I stayed in her house for a bit, upstairs, of course. I had to leave when walkers started breaking in." I had to stop there because I could feel my voice beginning to break.

"Just you?" Andrea asked.

I made brief eye contact, since before I'd just been staring into the fire, "I- I think so." This whole thing was a little more than a blur now, to be honest – probably for the best. I guess there are some reasons to appreciate my brain.

She raised an eyebrow, but I just kept talking because I didn't want to be interrupted anymore, "I found a real nice ride on my way out of the neighborhood though," I added for a flair of optimism, and continued, "and drove to some gas station that I _thought_ was abandoned. I was wrong. I was knocked out – which is why some of this is coming up blank I guess – and when I woke up I found out my ride and my gun were stolen. I left the place after about two weeks or so, and that's when I went to some police station and tried to – ah, steal guns." I smiled and shrugged again, "And that's how I met Rick."

Lori leaned forward in skepticism but couldn't hide the grin from her face, "…So you met Rick because you were trying to steal guns?"

I couldn't hold back a chuckle, "Yeah. Hearing it like that makes it sound so…_weird._ I have to admit that I'm pretty lucky he was so understanding of it. Anything for survival."

Shane showed the same grin and I prepared myself for either ridicule or more questions, "So you two are together now…" he ran his hands through his hair and chuckled, "over guns?"

I cleared my throat, that also sounded weird to me. Together. Sounds almost wrong. "I guess so? There's not really any other way to put it."

He nodded, accepting my answer and stretched his arms. Is it that late already? Oh man, I really hope the group doesn't decide our sleeping arrangements tonight…

It became a lot quieter when the fire began to die down and people started leaving to get ready for bed to have some moments to themselves, leaving just Dale, Shane, Lori, and Rick.

I enjoyed learning more about the group, it definitely helped me understand that there's still some sense of humanity left and helped the group get away from reality for a while, basically was a great way to lighten the mood. I think this will be the last time (for at least a long time) that we'll be able to sit back and reminisce about our past lives. It was also pretty interesting hearing about everyone's background, some surprising, and others not.

"So, who's on watch and how do things at night work here?" I asked, hoping that I could _maybe_ get a good night's sleep tonight.

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><p><strong>September 12, 2010<strong>

My head felt heavy and I didn't even have to look at a watch to know that I'd only been out for an hour or so.

I sighed, trying to move but felt Rick's arm slinked tightly around my waist. Yes, we did share a tent. And yes, I _love_ it.

I tried to carefully maneuver out of his grip, but he caught me and gave a light kiss on my shoulder. "Where are you going?" He tried to act oblivious to the fact that I'd known he'd been awake as well, "I can't sleep." I grumbled, "Believe me, I want to – but I can't."

He chuckled, "Where were you planning on going?"

I turned to face him and propped myself on my elbow, "Rick, are we going to play twenty questions or are you gonna let me leave?" I joked.

"I love it when you play hard to get, Isabelle."

"Shut up."

He rolled onto his back and I placed my head on his bare chest, since I'm definitely more than fine with having Rick's chest as my pillow.

"You really can't sleep?" He asked with a slight hint of concern in his tone.

"Yeah, I'm just – I dunno, not used to this…being able to just relax."

As comfortable as I was lying there, I pushed myself off of him and made my way to the corner of the tent to grab my pair of jeans. "I think…I'm just gonna go join Glenn and Dale outside."

Rick sat up, probably to get a quick glance at my ass as I was trying to shimmy into some jeans, "You sure?"

"Yeah. I'll sleep later." And by "later" I meant when exhaustion overwhelms me, _but_ I didn't want to say that since he deserved a good night's sleep.

I kneeled over by him and planted a gentle kiss on his lips, "I'll be back soon, just go to bed, Rick."

He sighed, and I started to feel a little bad because I knew that he just wanted to spend this night with me and not having to worry about anything. "Alright, goodnight, Isabelle." He said before I crawled out of the tent. I really hope he just goes to bed.

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><p>Dale and Glenn were hanging out around the RV when I stumbled out of the tent. I buttoned my jeans and fixed my bed head before making my way over to them.<p>

Both were atop the RV, probably cause Amy and Andrea were asleep inside. Lucky.

"Hey guys." I said as I made my way up the ladder, I hope I didn't interrupt anything.

"Can't sleep?" Dale asked.

I sat down and rubbed my temple, "Yeah. Long day."

"Don't worry about it, it took the group a while before they were comfortable with falling asleep. Just surprised you'd want to be around us night owls when you have your boyfriend the sheriff." He joked harmlessly.

I scoffed, "Heh. I don't mind at all, really. I appreciate how warm you guys have been to me so far since none of you guys know me."

"Well, nobody in the group really knew each other before this happened. But tragedy brings people together, and when the world goes to shit we shouldn't let ourselves go down with it."

I nodded, "Very wise words to live by, Dale. I'm glad the group has someone like you." I smiled, hoping I wasn't coming off as creepy or anything.

"Every group needs its moral compass." He replied. I'm starting to like him more and more each minute he talks.

"True." I leaned back in my seat, "What do you guys do to pass the time?"

Glenn finally spoke up, "Talk, mostly. Sometimes Andrea or Lori will come up here to shut us up if we get too loud."

I rolled my eyes in response but could understand where the women were coming from, "Who takes your spot after you guys go to bed?"

"Daryl, just by himself when he gets back early in the morning. He prefers it that way." Glenn answered, "And I think most of the group does anyways."

I agree. I really, really do. If he's anything like his brother, which I hope he's not, then he's probably an ass. At least he's not too bad looking though, from the brief moment I saw him, so I suppose I can let it slide sometimes. Just don't tell Rick I think that.

"Why do you guys keep him around? He seems like an ass." I blurted out.

I heard Dale give a small chuckle, but kept quiet, leaving it to Glenn to respond. "Uh…" He hesitated, I think he was probably worried that Daryl was really awake and listening to everything, but he hadn't come back yet. "He's a good hunter and can be good conversation if you're on his good side."

"I can understand the food part, but are you so sure about the conversation part? I feel like he has the conversation skills of a potato."

Glenn cracked a small smile, which gave me some relief since he seemed so uptight since we'd gotten back from the city, "He's really not that bad, Isabelle. It's Merle you should be worried about."

"No shit." I cleared my throat to quickly apologize, "Sorry. But you, well you know…" My voice faded off as I remembered what happened the day earlier. This is terrible of me to think but part of me hopes that Merle doesn't make it back because of what he did.

Dale joined in the conversation again, "What'd he do?"

I rubbed the back of my neck, unsure of what to say. I didn't want to stir up any unnecessary drama, but I didn't want to hide the dangers of Merle's anger from the group. They were probably aware of him being a potential threat but –

"Merle hit T-Dog and then hit Isabelle right after when we were in Atlanta." Glenn quickly blurted out.

"He what?" Dale shot up in his seat, well there goes any chances of the group even wanting Merle back.

"It's nothing, really, you should be more concerned about T-Dog," I mumbled, trying to hide the redness creeping up on my cheeks. Really, they should be more concerned about T-Dog! He was the one being treated like absolute garbage by that racist piece of shit.

"Damn it," Dale growled, "I hate to say it but leaving Merle behind could be for the best if he attacked you two like that."

"I…have to agree." Glenn said, "I think the whole group does too."

"Minus Daryl." I added.

"Yeah, I still don't know what we're going to do about him." Dale said, and Glenn nodded. In fact, I don't think the group as a whole doesn't know what we're going to do about him. Hell, I'm not even sure if the whole group even knows.

"Just wondering guys, what happens if Merle comes back? Don't you think he might, you know, try to get revenge or something?" For a brief moment, I was worried Glenn was going to shit his pants form the thought. Poor guy seriously needs a good night's sleep and a hug to keep him calm.

"I don't know, Glenn. I don't think that's something we should be thinking about right now." I answered.

"She's right," Dale agreed, "Right now…right now the group needs to focus on us and only us. We need to concentrate on staying alive and together."

Glenn did have a point though, not about Merle but he was right in being concerned. With Merle abandoned on some roof there's no doubt Daryl is going to want to something about this, and it's probably going to be dangerous or plain stupid.

"Even more important," I began, "What the fuck do we do when Daryl gets back and realizes Merle isn't with us anymore?" How the hell are we going to give him the news? I really can't imagine this going too smoothly with him. 'Hey we left your jackass brother on a roof surrounded by walkers, sorry! Hope you can forgive us!' If only there were a Hallmark card for these types of occasions…

Glenn rubbed his forehead and groaned, "I'm not sure I even _want_ to think about it."

Dale sighed, "It's going to have to be Rick or Shane that's going to have to deliver the news, they can probably keep Daryl calm and if not I know they can handle him."

"I guess so. I just know it's not going to be a pretty sight." My head ached at the thought, I can see it already too. I'm going to have to find a way to make sure he doesn't have his crossbow near him or I know something or _someone_ is going to get shot.

"I don't think it'll be a good idea to have T-Dog around…" Glenn mumbled, and I had to agree. It wouldn't help much having the guy who – accidentally, mind you – dropped the key that would've unlocked your brothers' handcuffs.

"It's a shame that this had to happen," Dale uttered, "But I always had a feeling Merle would pull something like this, it was only a matter of time…"

"That's true," I agreed, "better to know now and have it taken care of before anyone…" I was going to say died but I don't think that's the right choice of words, "you guys know what I mean." I yawned, surprising myself since that means I'm actually…feeling tired.

Dale noticed my fatigue setting in, "You should sleep now."

"Are you sure? I like talking to you guys." I whined, not that I didn't want to go back with Rick but I enjoyed the fresh air.

"He's right, you're tired, Isabelle." Glenn added, oh I see, now they're ganging up on me – no wait, conspiring against me.

"Now you guys are just trying to get rid of me?" I joked, "Turds. Fine, I'll give in and go to bed."

I heard them both share a small laugh as I slid down the ladder, at least I made some of the group feel better. Maybe now Glenn won't be so uptight and paranoid.

I snuck back inside the tent and tried to remove my jeans as quickly as I could to get back into the sleeping bag, but apparently I wasn't quiet enough because I heard Rick move around a bit…must be him still asleep though. At least, hopefully.

I slipped in to the sleeping bag and that's when I knew he was awake, when I felt a light kiss on my shoulder, "I was wondering where you were."

I turned to face him and gave a little smirk, hoping he could see it, "Missed me?"

"Course." He lightly placed his hand on my jaw line and added sternly, "Now go to sleep."

"Buzzkill." I mumbled and smiled, "You're like the fourth person to tell me to go to bed. Now I don't want to listen to any of you."

"C'mere." He wrapped his arm tightly around me and brought me closer to his chest. I could hear his heartbeat and it was definitely starting to relax me.

I closed my eyes and was starting to doze off when I remembered something. Something _very_ important.

"Rick," I whispered.

"Hmm?" He groggily replied.

"No goodnight kiss?" I pouted.

He sighed and lifted my chin gently, planting a kiss on my lips, "Goodnight."

I couldn't keep the stupid grin off my face, "Night, Rick."

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><p>I blinked several times, since it took me a couple minutes to realize that I was actually safe for once and not in some abandoned gas station or overrun farm. I rolled on to my back, Rick wasn't here, probably out eating or something. There was some mild chatter outside, but other than that, I enjoyed the silence.<p>

That is, until Daryl found out where Merle _really_ was.

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><p><em>Sorry for a short and boring chapter, my lovely readers. I need to get back into the habit of writing and actually remember the storyline. I also apologize for any confusing parts, random errors, it's been a while. :o Anyways, to those who are still around, thanks for reading and I have some things to share with my readers.<em>

_First, some parts of the story may be in third person later, don't worry I'll always go back to first person but third person may be needed for some parts. I haven't decided on this yet. I'll let you guys know when I do._

_Second, there's probably going to be a story that branches off of this one since this plot has been eating away at my brain for some time. Same character and background for Isabelle, but will most likely be following TV canon and will have a certain interesting pairing. Let me know what you guys think about this idea, in PM or review._

_It's getting very late and I'm veeeery tired, so I'm sorry for not replying to reviews this time. You all are wonderful people and I appreciate all of you for taking your time to read and review my story. Love you all~_


	17. Chapter 17

_I'm awful with updates, guys. SO many things coming up it's rare that I get any time to write. But as soon as school is over hopefully the chapters will be coming faster. Also, I started writing my other story…and I REALLY want to post it but…it won't make sense just yet. Stay tuned though! And as always, I love all of my readers. :-*_

_And I noticed only some readers came back :'(Hope they see the new chapters!_

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><p>"He either is or he ain't! The hell you mean 'not sure'?" I heard Daryl raising his voice.<p>

Oh boy.

I jumped out of the sleeping bag quickly to pull on my pair of worn jeans and tried to get out as fast as possible.

By the time I was lacing my boots up, I could hear Rick's voice, explaining the reasoning behind leaving Merle behind after briefly introducing himself, which I'm sure most of the group agreed with (as inhumane as I thought it was, I was starting to believe it was the right thing as well). This really did not go well with Daryl.

I couldn't hear the beginning of Daryl's response, but I did hear the anger bubbling up in his tone, "So you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?"

I was out of the tent to hear Rick's small response, followed by a silence. Not good, definitely not good at all.

By the time I reached where everyone was, I saw Daryl being shoved to the ground by Shane, only for him to reach for his knife and to try to lunge at Rick. He was wrestled to the ground by both Shane and Rick, and then placed into a chokehold while Rick took the knife from him.

I was speechless. I didn't know whether to get angry or what, I didn't know how to react. I really was feeling sympathetic towards Daryl, I know I'd be lying to myself if I said I'd understand Rick's reasoning for leaving my brother behind, no matter how much of an asshole my brother were acting in this sort of scenario. Then again, I can safely say this would never happen with my brother.

"You best let me go!" He shouted, and Shane tightened his grip around his neck, with Daryl's panting growing heavier and heavier.

Rick leaned close and spoke smoothly but sternly, "I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic, can you manage that?" He was ignored, so he repeated his question again before nodding to Shane to loosen his grip on Daryl, throwing him to the ground. I didn't necessarily have a say in this, but man they could've been a tad bit gentler with him, it's not like he was overreacting or anything. At least, I didn't think so.

Rick was beginning to explain why he left Merle behind, emphasizing the part about "Merle not playing well with others" when T-Dog cut in, taking the blame, "It's not Rick's fault, it's mine. I had the key and I dropped it."

My eyes fell to the floor, I was kinda hoping to get a word in to try to make the situation a little less tense, but now with that thrown out there I'm pretty clueless at this point considering the racist background Merle has, but I'm crossing my fingers Daryl doesn't share the same ideas.

"And you didn't pick it up?" Daryl asked venomously.

"I dropped it down the drain." T-Dog replied as his shoulder fell, if that didn't show the pain and guilt he's been feeling since we got back then I don't know what would.

Daryl sighed and rubbed his forehead, not answering and pushing himself up off of the ground. I could feel both Shane and Rick tense up and prepare themselves in case Daryl were to lunge at T-Dog. "If that's supposed to make me feel better, it don't." He spat, walking past T-Dog. He froze in his footsteps, however, when T-Dog continued speaking.

He told Daryl the somewhat good news: T-Dog chained the door to the roof where Merle was handcuffed.

I could feel Daryl's pain when his face twisted but he tried to hide his emotions by wiping his face with the back of his palm, "The hell with all y'all!" He spoke again in a defeated and hushed tone, "Just tell me where he is so I can go find him," his voice cracked and I fiddled with my hands hoping he wouldn't do something irrational.

"He'll show you," Lori spoke up, eyeing her brother, "Ain't that right?"

I cut in, "Daryl, I didn't like it either." I could already sense Rick's disapproval at what I was about to say, but that didn't stop me from extending the offer to Daryl. I knew how much he's done for the group, and shit he has every right to react the way he reacted. "I'm willing to go back with you to Atlanta."

Rick assured him that he was going back, and Daryl stormed off, hopefully to get his things together or get some time to think, anything would be better than him leaving on his own. At least he didn't act like his brother and call me a stupid bitch for my offer, I suppose the lack of response was a good thing, but definitely unexpected.

All the attention was focused on Rick now, with Shane asking him why he even considers going back for "a douchebag like Merle" and I used that as my opportunity to sneak away before Rick could get the chance to talk to me. I already knew I wasn't going to hear the end of it. Hopefully Shane will be enough to distract him a little.

I overheard Lori express concern at the pair leaving, as well as Glenn's hesitation in volunteering and T-Dog joining almost immediately. I was a bit…worried that Rick hadn't talked to me yet about what I'd offered Daryl. I'm not too much of a patient girl at times, but I decided play dumb about who was going and hopefully try to make my way to assuring him that I will, in fact, be joining them whether they liked it or not. I don't imagine it going to smoothly though.

I saw him going back to our tent to get his uniform on, and I figured that'd be the best to bring it up. I really had to be careful with my words though.

"Rick," I began, waiting for a response. I had the sneaking suspicion he knew what I was going to do.

"Yes?"

"Who's going with you to Atlanta?" I asked with the best innocent tone I could use.

"Daryl, Glenn, and T-Dog."

"Hm." I nodded, "You did hear what I offered him, right?"

He turned to face me, "Of course I did, Isabelle."

I bit the inside of my cheek, not wanting to argue but I started to anyways, "So, guess this means you're not taking me." I slowly felt the redness creeping up on my cheeks, hoping I'd be able to control my tongue, "I can handle myself Rick, and besides my bag was left there too! And my gun!" My shoulders sunk, "I named it and everything…" I mumbled to myself, and I could feel him give a small smile come on as quickly as it disappeared. Guess he wasn't in the mood to argue then.

I did appreciate the fact that he was listening at least, I'm usually incredibly stubborn in these types of situations and will go on and on forever about my point. But in this situation could you blame me? No way in fucking hell am I staying here staring at clouds.

"Isabelle, you think I want you back out there again? We both saw how," he shifted uncomfortably a bit and his voice lowered, "how Merle…treated you."

Oh shit. This has always confused me about men, they always take the blame or feel responsible for shit that are completely out of their control. Well, 'always' is a bad word to use since I hate when people generalize. Fuck it, I'm a hypocrite anyways.

"Please, Rick, don't think that it was your fault. It wasn't, don't take responsibility for what happens to me."

"It could've been prevented though, Isabelle." He replied, bluntly. He wasn't even upset with me, he was upset with himself.

I crossed my arms, "Really? How, Rick? How?" I asked, annoyed. Before he could answer I continued, "Exactly, Rick. You didn't _know_ what would happen, it's not your fault. It can't be your fault."

"I can prevent it this time around though." He insisted.

"You know Merle dislikes T-Dog a lot, and he gets to go." I argued.

"You know that's different."

"I can handle myself, Rick."

"I know that."

"Then why won't you let me go?" Was this just going to go back and forth? I really just wanted to get to the point fast before he tried to avoid answering it more than he already was.

"Isabelle, I don't want you getting hurt. I don't know what could happen out there. The city could be completely overrun with walkers, Merle could somehow have a gun, I don't know. I'd feel better knowing you were here, safe from any dangers." I opened my mouth to speak again, but he quickly added, "We just got here, why do you want to leave already?"

I rolled my eyes, "I could ask you the same thing, Rick! Merle isn't your responsibility, you don't _have_ to go back, you choose to – just like how I'm choosing to go as well. And to address your other points, you think it's fair for me to sit here and twiddle my thumbs knowing you're out there? You say you don't know what could happen out there in the city, shit you don't know what could happen here in the camp. It could get overrun while you're gone. It could somehow fucking blow up. Neither of us knows, Rick. So that's an invalid point to make." I complained.

He sighed, "Isabelle, you know what I meant."

"No, I didn't. This isn't fair. You're saying you wanted me here because you know it's safe but what about me? How will I know you're safe? I'm allowed to care about you too and I want to help the group as much as I can, not sit here and wait for you to get back from some shithole infested with walkers!"

I can safely say I expected either a firm "no" again (I wasn't going to give up though) or a pause and him saying "Fine, you can go" but instead he pulled me into a tight embrace after a few moments of silence. Not that I minded or anything, of course.

"You're so stubborn, you know that?" He mumbled into my hair, and I smiled into his shoulder. I won this time around, and we both knew it.

"So? It helps me get what I want, and I want to go back there with you. If you're going to that shithole I might as well join." I joked, trying to ease the tension that may have been still lurking there.

As much as I didn't want to, I slipped out of his embrace and went to grab my shovel from the corner of the tent. I felt a little bad for being so bitchy about how I made my points to him and for assuming that he was just forcing me to stay here because I couldn't handle myself or something. I know it wasn't that reason, but surely most could understand my frustration. It's the exact same treatment I'd get sometimes back in training.

"Isabelle, I just wanted to make sure you knew that I didn't want you staying behind because I thought you couldn't handle yourself or anything like that." He began to clarify, freaking me out since he must've read my mind earlier. That or he noticed my fidgeting. "I want you to know that it's because, well you know that I care a lot and-"

Of all the times for someone to poke their head and interrupt an important conversation, it had to be now. It fucking had to be now.

Shane's eyes drifted back and forth between us, probably getting a kick out of interrupting us. Something about him really doesn't sit right with me.

"Daryl's been looking for ya, Rick." Shane said, eyeing me for a moment.

"We're not leaving yet, Shane." Rick replied with an irritated tone.

"We're?" he started, "Rick, don't tell me you're bringing her too. That's too many lives you're putting at risk for that asshole!"

"Shane, I decided myself to go," I assured him, "I'm not being forced or anything. This was my decision."

"Man, this ain't worth it. You two just got here and now you're heading out again." He turned to Rick, "We need you here. You saw that walker this morning, Rick, it was _on_ the camp. We need people _here_ to protect the camp, not out there!"

Walker? I must've slept through that.

"What walker?" I asked.

"You were asleep so you probably didn't hear it." Rick answered, and Shane finished for him, "It was at the edge of the camp. Right before you woke up, I think. Daryl killed it but who knows if it had friends. It doesn't matter though, we can't be risking this many lives for Merle."

Hearing that made me feel a bit uneasy, understandably, but I was surprised I didn't hear anything though, guess that means I got a good night's sleep. Unfortunately it'll probably be my last one for a while.

"It won't take long to get to Atlanta, Shane. We'll make it back soon enough," Rick then added, "I know that we need protection but we also need _more_ guns."

"I don't like this, Rick. Just go talk to Daryl, he's waiting for ya."

As soon as Rick exited the tent, I was about to follow but I stopped. I figured I'd let him talk to Daryl privately and he'd come back to tell me when everyone were leaving. But since I didn't follow him, I was stuck in the tent with Shane and I sort of froze up. I'd only talked to him…last night at the campfire? Not really a conversation though, just him asking me questions about Ft. Benning. Remember when I said that I was terrible with people?

"So, Isabelle, you comfortable so far here?" He finally asked, breaking the slightly awkward silence.

"Uh, yeah." I stuttered at first, "Yeah, I am. I'm not too used to all of the people here, been used to surviving by myself and then with just one other person."

He nodded, and I wasn't sure if it was that he was taking what I said in or was just some habit of his, "How are you and Rick doing?"

I shrugged, "Good, I suppose? I don't know, I can't necessarily speak for him, Shane," I smiled, "you're gonna have to ask him how he's feeling though."

He returned the smile, "I thought it was funny how you two met – over guns and all. Glad to know that you two have been working well together."

I gave out a small chuckle, "Heh, well," I rubbed the back of my neck, "at first it wasn't necessarily 'working well together', more like him watching my ass all of the time."

"Can't blame him for that, Isabelle." He joked. Well it sounded like a joke, either that or he was flirting with me. I'm probably just overthinking this. Married men don't exactly do that.

I cleared my throat, "Uh yeah, but we work well together. And I think we're both fitting well with the group so far, so everything seems to be going pretty awesome. Though, I have to ask, what was it like before Rick and I got here?"

Shane hesitated before answering and I could tell he was trying to think of the best way to explain this, "A little different. I was sort of the default leader keeping the whole group alive. We had Merle around and he was basically some wannabe douchebag dictator, which is why I'm still not getting why you're all going back for him. Group's better off without him."

"I can only agree to an extent, Shane. You saw how it's affecting Daryl, we can't just get rid of anyone and everyone who happened to like Merle."

He gave a small cocky laugh, "Seems that Daryl's the only one."

I shook my head, "Doesn't matter. He's probably contributed to the group the most besides you or Rick, he deserves the group's respect and I really don't blame him for the way he reacted."

Shane's face twisted a bit, "You tellin' me that you agree with Daryl?"

"I didn't stutter, did I?" I harmlessly challenged, hoping he wouldn't take it to heart or anything.

He eyed me down for a brief moment before speaking up, "I can see why Rick likes you. You ain't afraid to think for yourself. That and there are…_other_ _qualities_ he likes about you."

Another nervous laugh from me, "Right. It was nice chatting, Shane, but I gotta get to the rest of the group right now."

"Be safe out there, Isabelle. Keep an eye on Rick too." He told me before I rushed out.

That was a bit uncomfortable.

* * *

><p>I was heading over to where most of the group was, but noticed something off about Glenn. "Glenn," I paused to study his features, I don't think he was too happy at the moment, which I could get obviously but I also noticed that his sweet ride wasn't around, "Where is she?"<p>

"They stripped her apart. Like vultures." He glumly replied.

I threw my arm around his shoulder and gave him a small squeeze, "I can relate a bit. Maybe we'll be able to find my ride one day and I'll let you drive." A small smile tugged at his lips, at least maybe now he won't be so sad. Glenn's sad face makes me feel like I just kicked a puppy.

I noticed Rick arguing again with Shane with the rest of the group just sitting there in listening. I saw Lori stand up and start to agree with her husband, basically restating the same reasons of Merle not being worth it and the guns not being worth it. Hell, even Carl jumped in with his little puppy eyes.

I stayed back though, since he could take care of himself. Well, that and I really didn't want to talk to the group anyways. I'm pretty sure by now most would know that I'm not exactly a people person.

It was really interesting to see how Rick was just a natural leader when interacting with the group though, keeping his cool and knowing how to reason with everyone. That's another reason I like to stay back sometimes, since I can have a short temper, I got it from my dad.

I saw Lori and Shane's faces relax a bit after Rick explained the situation better to him, well I don't know exactly what he said, maybe he threatened them or something for all I know. Whatever it was it definitely worked because Shane backed down and Rick left to Dale's RV.

I wonder how Shane feels with Rick around though, considering, well I assume he was the de facto leader since I don't think the group necessarily voted or anything. They probably thought anyone was better than Merle or Daryl, and trust Shane since he's a cop.

I can sort of tell that he's a bit annoyed though, being pushed aside by Rick. I know that Rick isn't doing it on purpose, but the group seems to be a lot warmer to him than (from what I've seen) how they've been with Shane. Hopefully it'll all work out in the end, I'm sure it's just something Shane isn't used to yet but he'll grow into it. Not hopefully, I know it'll all fall into place, some people need longer to adjust to change that's all.

Hmm, but now I'm worried about if he _doesn't_ get used to it. It won't end well either, since choosing sides will get people killed. Damn it, think happy thoughts, I shouldn't have to worry about this right now.

I pinched the bridge of my nose to try to get my mind off of the inevitable power struggle between the two. Did I say 'inevitable'? That was the negative side of me talking. I mean possible, and by possible I mean very unlikely. That's better.

I'll just think about Rick instead.

No, wait, another bad idea. I just realized something really weird – we haven't even talked much about our feelings lately. God, that sounds so needy hearing it put like that. I can only remember that one time where I did admit I liked him a lot, but he just – man, I don't even know what he did. I think he said he liked the kiss or he liked me or whatever. It didn't feel enough though.

Fuck, why am I feeling so insecure lately? Am I that much of a loser that I have to hear that he cares about me and likes me? Fuck it, yes, I do need to hear it. I don't even know how I go about it though. "Hey Rick tell me you love me!" Yeah, I can't exactly imagine that going well.

It's just…I don't know. It's been mostly physical up to this point, minus sex and all, of course. That's what's different about men and women though, men show their feelings through touch and us women just say it and won't shut up about it. Okay, well it applies to me, at least.

I just don't want to force anything on him.

_God damn_, stop being so insecure about this, Isabelle.

* * *

><p><em>Sorry for a chapter that was mostly just bitching, talking, and indecisiveness. There will be more action when the group goes back to Atlanta. Believe me!<em>

_Review time:_

_Brandi Grimes: __thank you for the very kind words! And yes, I was having a hard time writing Lori as his sister…sometimes I accidentally put 'wife', yikes! Anyways, I hope you continue to enjoy my story!_

_Alex Cloninger:__ thank you! They look forward to your looking forward to their adventures ;p, also at this moment I am not interested in OCs, however, when I need one I'll let you know~_

_Leyshla Gisel__: missed you _

_Padme4000:__ hmm, I'm quite interested in where I'm gonna go with it as well, but I really hope you guys will enjoy it_

_Velvetemr73:__ agreed, there are too many! Thank you for liking my character! _

_Ms. AnimeCartoonZombieFreak13: __what a mouthful! And thank you for the sweet words!_

_Akuish__: you are too kind~_

_Ventrille Bestion__: y u no make account? Just kidding, and thankyou for the kind words, love!_

_No one__: Luke is jane's boyfriend I hope you continue to read and enjoy the story and if you have any questions ask away!_

_guccileopard:guuuuuuuuuuuuuurl where u been. missed ya *heart*  
><em>

_To the rest, thank you for reading and I hope to hear more from all my faithful readers and all those shy lurkers out there! As soon as tests are over in May, I hope to get back on track with updates for my lovely fans. You're all awesome! :-*_


	18. Chapter 18

**I'm still here, loves! Don't forget to tell me what you think :) Also, anon reviews were turned off so sorry to my anonymous lovers out there!**

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><p>"Isabelle!" A feminine voice called out my name and I swiftly turned around. Lori, a little unexpected but that's not a bad thing.<p>

"Yeah?" She looked at me with concern etched in her features; she most likely caught me in a state of distraction by my own thoughts…

"You really going with them back to Atlanta?" She asked, and I tried my best to not roll my eyes. If I didn't noticed the similarity between her and Rick before, I sure as hell did now.

"Yes…" I began, waiting for her to respond. No response, so I continued with a hint of suspicion in my tone, "Why?"

"It's just…you and Rick just got here."

I gave her a smile as a way to assure her, "I understand. Believe me, I've already gotten this talk, but I know what I'm doing."

I stood there awkwardly waiting for a response, and I didn't want to rush her or anything but I was pretty sure at the moment that the guys were waiting on me to leave.

I was about to turn and head to the truck when she spoke up again, "Isabelle, I've heard a lot of good things about you. It'd be a shame for it to all go to waste – be safe out there."

"Thanks." I managed to say, I wasn't sure how to exactly react but that was the only phrase that really came to mind. However, I genuinely appreciated her concern. I hope I didn't come off as immature.

I made my way over to the box truck where Daryl, Glenn, T-Dog, and Rick were waiting for me.

"What's the damn hold up?" Daryl sneered, but I ignored him and turned to Rick instead, "Sorry, Lori needed to tell me something…"

He grabbed my hand, "Don't worry about it," he paused, "Are you sure about this?"

I squeezed his hand and gave a reassuring smile, "Yes I'm sure, Rick."

"You can back down anytime you want, Isabelle."

I rolled my eyes. "I want to go. Now shut up and let's get going."

Rick took the wheel and Glenn hopped in right next to him, while the rest of us jumped in the back.

* * *

><p>The ride was not only bumpy, but quiet. Nobody wanted to talk and that was understandable since I can't imagine anyone really being excited over having to rescue the asshole racist man – no boy – known as Merle.<p>

When we arrived back in the heart of Atlanta it was eerily silent as usual. Glenn tried his best to get us as close as possible to the building Merle was left behind without alerting any hordes of walkers nearby. We finally parked about a few blocks away and walked the rest of the way.

On the way to the building I was really hoping to run into a liquor shop since I don't think people would've flocked there after hearing the shit news. Actually now that I think of it, they probably did, I know I would've. Well there go my chances of getting one last drink or cigarettes or something.

There were a couple random walkers roaming around here and there, but we managed to avoid them. We saw the building about a block away, so Glenn led the way and made a mad dash to the front. I quickly followed and we entered through the broken display window of the boutique we were in yesterday, this did not look good at all.

Daryl, Rick, and T-Dog met us at the top of the stairs, and Daryl pushed past us anxiously to cut open the chain on the door. He kept calling Merle's name and I was starting to get anxious of him alerting any walkers up there.

The chain finally broke and Daryl shoved the door open to run to the pipe Merle was cuffed to.

"Merle! Merle!" I let the others go in front of me because I didn't want to look at him even if he was there.

"No! No!" I heard Daryl's voice crack from yelling, and I just cringed because it didn't sound good from his tone.

I got to the bottom of the steps and tried to see what Daryl was screaming about, but before I could even do or say anything he immediately pointed his crossbow at T-Dog, only for Rick to pull his gun out and aim it at Daryl's head.

"Jesus fuck we can't fall apart now!" I shouted, but the situation remained tense. I looked down and saw Merle's hand, the handcuff still attached to the pipe with a bloody saw nearby.

"I won't hesitate, I don't care if every walker in the city hears it." Rick threatened and I could feel my palms getting sweatier, hoping Daryl would calm down.

He put the crossbow down and sighed, "Ya got a doo rag or something?'

I exhaled, it was, well not amazing or anything, but a hell of a lot calmer. I stepped over to the edge of the building to view the area and make sure there weren't going to be any surprise attacks soon.

When I turned back around, I saw Daryl take a handkerchief and wrap the hand up, and then begin to follow the small blood trail. I quietly followed but stayed in the back behind T-Dog and when we entered the building I lightly put my hand on T-Dog's shoulder, hoping he'd get what I was trying to say – that I was there for him if he needed it. He just nodded and we continued down the stairs.

Daryl stayed ahead but stopped when we entered the lobby, I heard he and Rick investigate the blood trail and the two dead walkers but I tuned it out to listen for anything in the behind or around us.

Daryl's shouts for Merle echoed through the building, which only made me more nervous to check out the other rooms. Thank god Rick noticed, "We're not the only ones here!" He hissed at Daryl, but Daryl only shrugged and kept moving along and repeating his brother's name.

We entered a small room, some sort of kitchen that also had some cleaning supplies, and I pointed out the still lit stove. I saw the iron by the stove and gagged when I noticed the burnt skin still on it. And the smell…of _burnt_ _flesh._ I thought I'd gotten used to it now, shit was I wrong. So wrong…

"He cauterized the wound," Rick said to Daryl. Tough son of a bitch.

"Told you he was tough, only person who could kill Merle is Merle." Daryl replied before turning his attention to the broken window in the back of the room.

I guess this was some sort of relief for T-Dog because now he knew that Merle wasn't dead, but then again, that made me nervous since he's still alive and he's going to want some kind of revenge against us. I don't – I can't even think about that kind of shit right now. Stay focused on just finding something, Isabelle.

I leaned out the broken window, careful of the glass around the pane, and looked around for any possible clues of where Merle went. There was a bloody rag just outside the window, but that seemed to be the end of the trail. Where the hell could he have gone? I can't imagine there being any place to hide out for long out there and surviving long enough to get out of Atlanta just seems…_unlikely_. Really unlikely, actually, I just can't see it happening with any sort of handicap.

"- what are his odds of surviving out there?" I overheard T-Dog ask, oh boy.

"No worse than being handcuffed and left to rot by you sorry pricks," Daryl spat back before turning back to be face to face with Rick, "You couldn't kill him, I ain't so worried about some dumb dead bastard."

"Will you give it a damn rest already?" I scoffed at Daryl and could feel his anger being directed at me now but it didn't stop me, "We get it, he's a tough son of a bitch and you're upset, but stop fucking making us the villain when your – yes _your_ brother – was a threat to the whole group!"

"Nobody asked you, _Bella_," he mocked, "why the hell you here anyways?"

Fuck that nickname. "Go fuck yourse-"

"Enough already!" Rick interrupted and stepped between us and kept his focus on Daryl, "She's here because she wanted to help."

Daryl maintained his eye contact and scoffed in his face, "I don't need your guys' help, I'll go find him my damn self."

Rick reached for his shoulder but Daryl only shook him off, "Get your damn hands off me!" He shouted but Rick kept his cool, "You need to slow the hell down. He's family, I get that. We can only find him and get out of here safe if we stick together and keep a level head."

Please just agree already. Please just agree. Please.

He finally responded, "I could do that."

I let out a sigh of relief and hoped we could stay level headed enough to get out of here alive. I couldn't care less about Daryl hating me after that, as long as we can keep the peace right now and no one gets shot with a bullet or arrow or whatever.

"Only if we get those guns first, no way I'm going through Atlanta with just my good intentions." T-Dog said and Glenn nodded in agreement.

Daryl cracked a small smile, "Sounds good to me." That honestly shocked the hell out of me. I didn't even know that it was possible for Daryl to cooperate.

* * *

><p>We'd moved to another room to outline a plan to get the guns and it was mostly Glenn and Rick doing the talking.<p>

Glenn had drawn a simple outline of the city and gave us his plan, he'd basically have Daryl wait at the alley for him while he'd run to the tank which was less than a block away from the alley and he'd grab the guns.

"And us? We're not going to wait inside for you two." Rick told him, with concern lingering in his voice.

"I know, I know," Glenn replied with a cocky attitude that I'd grown to admire, "You guys will be in this alley." He pointed on his diagram to an alley…two blocks away?

I raised an eyebrow in suspicion, "Two blocks away, Glenn?"

"Yeah, two blocks. If I can't go back to Daryl, I have to keep going forward to you guys. I'll be watched on all sides when I'm out there. When I get the guns, we'll meet back here."

Daryl cut in, "Hey kid, what'd you do before all of this?"

Glenn hesitated, I swear he needs a drink or two to relax, "I delivered pizza…why?"

"Probably asked since you know every shortcut in Atlanta." I added in while shrugging.

"Right. Okay, well, let's just get going now." He jumped up and headed to the ladder that led to the alley, Daryl followed behind.

The three of us went the opposite way and went down a different ladder silently, hoping to avoid any walkers. Rick had his gun gripped tightly in one hand and led the way down the alley. We knew when Glenn was going for the bag when we heard the clink of the metal fence being opened and I held my breath hoping nothing bad would happen.

All I could hear was the shuffling of several walkers, a couple groans and hisses here and then…until I started to hear a guy yelling in…Spanish?

"Ayudame! Don't shoot! Don't shoot me!" (_Help me!)_ The guy yelled, but we had to stay where we were so we wouldn't alert them.

"Fucking shut up already," I muttered under my breath.

The idiot yelled again, this time twice and we didn't hesitate to run out of the alley. Fuck it.

We rounded the corner behind the building so we didn't have to run into the walkers. I could hear the kid getting silenced; some screaming and a car driving off so I picked up the pace and found Daryl beating some wannabe thug kid.

That wasn't my concern though, where the shit was Glenn?

Rick ran ahead and pulled him off while Daryl kept shouting at the kid or teenager (he looked young), "They took the Glenn! Those sons of bitches took Glenn!"

Rick kept holding him back while Daryl continued to threaten the kid, "I'm gonna stomp your ass!"

"Rick we're cut off!" I shouted to Rick, eyeing the gate that was beginning to look uncomfortably fragile all of a sudden.

"Get to the lab!" He ordered us, and T-Dog dragged the kid with us as we ran back. I felt a pit sink in my stomach not knowing where Glenn was…

* * *

><p>What a stubborn little fuck. He didn't want to answer Rick's questions, instead of snapping back with insults in Spanish, completely ignorant of the fact that that was my first language.<p>

T-Dog shook his head, probably realized we weren't getting anywhere with this little asshole, "Jesus, what the hell happened back there?"

Daryl sighed in frustration before pacing the room, "I told you, this little turd started yelling then his douchebag friends jumped me."

"You jumped me first, puto." The kid shot back and I was practically beyond fed up, "Cállate lo pendejo, quiero que usted acaba de responder a nuestra pregunta y díganos que ustedes son." I paused and he didn't even twitch, "Si me digas eso, puedes ir con tus hermanos, no tiene que ser difícil."_(Shut up you idiot, I just want you to answer our question and tell us who you are. If you tell me that you can go back to your brothers, you don't have to be difficult.)_

Everyone looked at me like I grew a second head, "It's – ah – my first language…" I mumbled before returning to speak with this punk ass.

"No tengo que hablar contigo, puta." _(I don't have to talk to you, whore.) _He shot back and I sighed in frustration, "Estoy tratando de ayudarte, trabaje conmigo por favor." _(I'm trying to help you, work with me please.)_

"He was screaming at me about his brother like it was my damn fault or some shit." I guess he decided it'd be better to speak in a language everyone could understand.

Daryl continued to pace around the room, "These assholes took Glenn, could've taken Merle too!"

And the prick laughed. He fucking laughed. I wish he kept his mouth shut and not because of him annoying me but what Daryl would do to him. Ignoring any sort of common sense, he continued, "Merle? What kind of hick name is that? I wouldn't name my dog Merle." At this point I could only see thing ending one of two ways, either the kid folds and tells us everything or his teeth end up everywhere in a bloody mess…

This kid was lucky as hell that Rick was there to hold Daryl back from kicking his front teeth out. I know I would've been happier than a pig rolling in shit had I been able to witness that. Shit I would've even given Daryl a medal.

On the other hand, at least the little punk bitch was beginning to look a little nervous. Maybe we'd get information sooner than we thought we would.

Daryl went to Glenn's bag and reached inside, I had a good feeling he was going to grab what I think he was going to grab and because of this I couldn't keep the smug look off my face.

"Wanna see what happened to the last guy who pissed me off?" Daryl untied the handkerchief and pulled out the severed hand, only to toss it in the lap of the sweating kid, which in turn caused him to pretty much dance and jump out of his seat.

I really wanted to cheer him on when he tackled the kid to choke him and threaten him more, but the fun ended when Rick pulled him off once again.

Rick stepped in this time, "The men you were with took our friend, we just want to meet them to work something out." He kept a calm head, and as much as I wanted to see this kids face kicked in, I still enjoyed how diplomatic my baby could be. Errr…did I say my baby? I meant Rick.

I swear the kid was about to shit himself and he made eye contact with me; I guess he wanted my help now, but I shrugged, "No me mires, traté de ayudarle." (_Don't look at me, I tried to help you.)_

"You lost the only help you had, kid," Daryl picked up the hand and wrapped it up again while making sure the kid was watching closely, "Best you start telling us what we want to hear."

I'd never seen someone say so much so quickly.

* * *

><p>The kid, Miguel, led the way towards the "base" where his friends were, and he was closely followed by Daryl. I'd imagine the kid was shaking the whole time, but I stayed behind the group just as before. T-Dog carried the bag of guns with him. Unfortunately my bag wasn't picked up but hopefully we can make a quick stop for it on the way back.<p>

Rick stayed behind with me but kept a very close eye on the kid, even when we searched him for weapons. He gave me a slight nudge and I jumped, "I didn't know you spoke Spanish, Isabelle."

I shrugged, "Learn something new every day, I suppose." I gave a small grin and added, "I didn't think it'd be that big of a deal until now. If only my French would be useful…"

He scoffed, "You speak French too?"

"Forgot some of it, but yeah for the most part I do."

"Huh, well I'll have to hear that sometime…" He trailed off before going back to focusing on getting there.

"It's up ahead." Miguel pointed out while slowing down, "Why you slowing down kid?" Daryl questioned, raising his crossbow.

"Figured you putos would want to meet before meeting G."

"Watch the language." I warned.

"G?" Rick asked.

"Guillermo. The big man around here." Miguel answered.

T-Dog nodded, "He's right, we need to make a quick plan before getting there."

Rick handed a rifle to T-Dog and nodded without saying a word, I pretty much got the gist of it. T-Dog would overlook the interaction with a rifle (I'd probably join him) and Daryl and Rick would take Miguel to do a prisoner exchange.

T-Dog and I left to an old building that was just next to their base. I kept the gun Rick gave me before leaving the lab in my back pocket and had Glenn's bad slung over my shoulder. We both went up the stairs and kept a low head to make sure this 'Guillermo' or his douchebag crew wouldn't see us.

I stayed seated but T-Dog propped his elbow on the edge to aim the rifle at the men when they stepped out. I couldn't hear much but some mumbling here and there after hearing the door open. I heard Miguel plead and beg for a second but return to silence. Even if I didn't know what they were saying, I could tell the situation was very fragile.

"Come on man, just make the exchange please." I heard T-Dog mutter under his breath and I stood up next to him.

I saw Guillermo look up at us then return his look back to Rick after shrugging. Rick had a strong grip on his shotgun, as well as Daryl on his crossbow and their grips weren't loosening anytime soon.

I don't know what was said or even agreed on next, but one moment they're staring each other off and then the next Guillermo turned around and his men followed him back inside.

T-Dog lowered the rifle and looked at me, "This really don't look good." He said glumly.

Daryl, Rick, and Miguel shuffled disappointedly out of the courtyard and back to our building. The door creaked open and I heard Daryl shove Miguel to the floor out of annoyance, "Go down there with them, I'll keep an eye up here."

He didn't hesitate when he heard my tone and soon joined the others downstairs. I know this is the worst time to think this, but shit did I need some alone time to collect my thoughts. That and a shower would be pretty damn nice.

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><p><strong>I apologize for taking so long to update, I've been insanely busy lately but summer started so hopefully I'll start shooting out updates. I have to ask again, where are all my readers? I want you lovelies back! I haven't gotten much feedback recently so hopefully it's I'm doing well with the story or it's so bad no one wants to say anything :P Regardless, I love hearing what you guys think!<strong>

**Review time~**

**EmiliShadow: thank you for the OC love, I've always been nervous about making them because I always feel that everyone will hate them  
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**Leyshla Gisel: I'm sorry for not updating soon enough :( I still love you though  
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**Ventrille Bestion: Shane has always been a creep, and thanks for the love!  
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**Alex Cloninger: thanks for the feedback, and when I get the time I'll be glad to see what you have!  
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**TheDoctorHarkness: I hated Holden but I loved the style of that book, so thank you for the amazing compliment! I'm glad that you enjoy the scattered-ness, it's like that on purpose and not because I'm a shit writer or something (well that's debatable) and don't even worry about the incest thing, I'm surprised I've been able to pull it off :o  
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**Padme4000: doesn't bother me that you're late because I always enjoy reading what you have to say!  
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**I'm about to pass out (forgive any random minor plot holes or errors since i revised half asleep), so goodnight lovelies and I look forward to your thoughts & criticism!**

**x**


	19. Chapter 19

**I know that my updates are weirdly spaced out, but I still am doing the story **** as well as my other idea for a story that sort of branches off of this one. Fear not my beautiful readers!**

I eventually joined the group downstairs and could tell the annoyance everyone was feeling at the moment. Rick told me that Guillermo didn't think the deal was sweet enough for his tastes. Now he and Daryl were going back and forth about whether it'd be good to give them guns or not, while Miguel was sulking in the corner and T-Dog was keeping a close watch on him. I really was starting to feel bad for the kid; it must really suck to know you're not worthy enough for a simple prisoner exchange. Makes me hope that I never have to be in this kind of situation…

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Daryl slap Miguel right across the face, still yelling at him.

"Come on, man, hitting him won't do a damn thing." T-Dog stepped in the way before continuing, "Do you guys trust that man's word?"

"No, question is what are you willing to bet on it? Could be more than guns, could be your life. Glenn really worth that much to ya?" Daryl asked.

"What life I – no, we have we owe to him." Rick replied, "He didn't have to save us, we don't mean anything to him. He could've walked away but he didn't."

"He's right, Daryl." I added, "He could've said 'fuck it' and left us there to die. We can't just leave him here," I nodded to the kid, "'Sides, what are we gonna do with him?"

Daryl sighed, "So you saying we hand the guns over?"

"No." Rick said, "I didn't say that."

He paused and Daryl nodded, reaching for the shotgun that lay out on the desk. T-Dog shook his head and dragged Miguel off the floor and I grabbed a rag to gag him. Surprisingly, Rick didn't lecture me on joining them, hopefully now he's starting to get the idea that I can handle myself.

Hopefully.

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><p>Daryl led the way with the shotgun pressed against Miguel's back while the rest of us followed. The guards didn't hesitate in letting us in, guess they knew we were coming back. What they didn't know is that we weren't going to give up our guns <em>that<em> easily. I could hardly keep the smirk off my face, even though I was scared shitless.

I kept my gun aimed high and my grip tight, even though the last thing I wanted was a shootout between us considering the chances were not really in our favor.

Guillermo and Rick went back and forth, with Guillermo claiming the guns were his and Rick telling him we weren't going down without a fight. Another man, I believe his name was Felipe tried to convince him to just gun us down but fortunately Guillermo was smarter than that.

My grip tightened when Guillermo moved closer and Daryl, T-Dog, and Rick cocked their shotguns – with everyone in the room following. Oh wow was I getting that sinking feeling in my stomach again. Don't get nervous. Don't get nervous. Don't. Get. Nervous. Shoot if you have to, because they won't hesitate to shoot you, Isabelle.

The silence was pretty deafening – that is, until we heard some shuffling. Followed by a frail, old woman shouting "Felipe! Felipe!"

I nearly dropped my gun. I don't think this is the place I thought it was.

"Get that old lady out of the line of fire!" Daryl warned with his shotgun still aimed.

"Abuela, listen to your mijo right now. This is not the place for you right now." Guillermo ordered, but the woman stayed put.

"Mr. Gilbert is having trouble breathing," she began with her voice breaking, "he needs his asthma stuff. Carlito couldn't find his medicine." She pleaded but Felipe kept his gun aimed.

I holstered my gun and moved out of our group towards the woman and Felipe. I could feel the guns on me but I kept my hands where everyone could see him. I realize this is a stupid decision but I'm not going to sit here wasting time when someone is having trouble breathing because we're not grown enough to talk things through.

"Isabelle!" Rick called out but I ignored it. They wouldn't shoot me if I didn't have a gun out…least that's what I hope.

"What are you doing?" Guillermo asked…almost baffled. Okay, he wasn't going to shoot me at least, I could tell by his tone. The others, well fuck if I know.

"My grandma had asthma." They weren't having it, so I slowly pulled out my gun and handed it to him carefully, "Here, take the damn gun, I don't care. Just please let me get by so I can help."

He obliged. "Let her pass. Go with her, Felipe." Guillermo ordered. I moved past with ease.

We entered a courtyard and I realized that this was most likely some sort of hospital or maybe even a retirement home. Well that's interesting. I paced ahead of them, knowing from past experience that it was critical to act quickly. I passed several rooms with other elders and adults taking care of them, boy do I hope Rick and Guillermo are having some sort of understanding right now.

I finally passed a room and peeked inside to see a large group of people around a man in a wheelchair, this must be it. I moved past the small crowd and saw someone shaking the inhaler to prepare it for use.

I kneeled beside him, "Take slow and deep breaths, Mr. Gilbert." The man beside me (who I assumed to be Carlito) looked really confused but handed me the inhaler. "I'm Isabelle. Just here to help." I explained briefly before giving him the inhaler.

Mr. Gilbert took several puffs of the inhaler and followed my directions of just taking deep breaths, he already looked calmer, which was really good. I asked him, "Are you breathing better, Mr. Gilbert?"

He cleared his throat and nodded. I turned to Carlito, "Just, uh, stay near in case his breathing worsens again." I placed my hand lightly on his shoulder, "You'll be fine." He quietly thanked me after I gave him a reassuring smile and I let Carlito take care of him.

"Isabelle?" I turned around to see Glenn coming towards me.

"Glenn!" I ran to him and hugged him tightly, "Jesus, what the hell happened?"

"How did you get in here?"

"Long story." I turned back to Mr. Gilbert, "Glad to see you breathing better, sir. Sorry about any confusion." I dragged Glenn away from the crowd and lowered my voice, "What the hell happened? One moment you were getting the bags and then the next you were gone."

"Where are the others?" He asked nervously.

"They're-" Footsteps echoed down the hallway. Well at least now I know that they didn't all shoot each other.

Our group didn't see us when they entered the room; instead they were too shocked at the fact that this was just a retirement home being protected by Guillermo and his men. Rick looked speechless, Daryl looked pissed, and T-Dog looked confused.

"Yeah, we didn't get the best welcome, Glenn." Guillermo was now speaking with Rick, I overheard some things, like Rick calling him the "dumbest son of a bitch he's ever met" and how he was "ready to load into him". I also heard some of Guillermo's explanation, how the staff left the patients here to rot and that he and Felipe were what was left of the staff.

Well on the bright side, nobody got shot.

* * *

><p>We'd met with Guillermo in a separate room for a better explanation of what was going on. I'm pretty sure that I wasn't the only one who was really confused.<p>

Guillermo explained everything to us, slowly and clearly. He told the rest of us about how the staff abandoned the place, how the families of the residents visited and decided to stay to help them out. He talked about how his men either work on the cars, watch the perimeter, or go out in the city to scavenge – hence why they claimed the bag of guns back in Atlanta.

"They all look up to me now. I don't understand why." He admit, and I could see the weight of all this responsibility already begin to take its toll on him.

"Because they can." Rick replied and reached into his duffle bag. No one seemed to have a problem with it, it went to a noble cause. Besides, if anyone had spoken up I don't think Rick would've really listened. He had the habit of being stubborn.

"Listen…" Guillermo began, but I don't think he knew Rick's name.

"Rick." He answered.

"Rick, thank you for the guns, and thank you for not being so quick to shoot." He reached his hand out and Rick firmly shook it. Hopefully our future encounters with groups can be just as peaceful.

"I'll walk you guys out." Guillermo led us out the hallway and into the courtyard, and I stayed silent. Part of me wished to stay here to help, but I knew the people back at the camp could use me for some medical help or anything really. The "vatos", as Guillermo liked to call it, made me feel a lot better about leaving this place though.

He led us to the garage near the entrance and the group was ready to leave but I noticed something oddly familiar. Strikingly familiar, actually.

So familiar it could just – huh. That's interesting.

It looked just like my baby. You know, _my baby_.

_My_ El Camino.

Same black sheen and contrasting racing stripes. Beautiful.

"Wait!" Everyone turned to me, "I forgot something. Just…uh w-wait for me outside. Or here. Preferably outside."

"We don't got time for this." Daryl said, annoyed, but Rick shrugged. Once I shooed them outside I began to speak to Guillermo, "That car over there," I pointed to my baby, "where'd you guys find it?"

"My men found it abandoned in the city. She's a beautiful one." He narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "Why do you ask?"

"That's funny. That was my car. It was stolen from me a couple weeks back." I tried to keep a calm tone, but the question of his men being the ones who attacked me kept running through my head.

"Really now?" I was hoping he believed me. Well I suppose he was since he hadn't dismissed me yet.

"Yeah really. I was attacked at a gas station and when I woke up my gun and ride were gone – no, stolen. To be honest, I don't think it was any of your men, so don't think I'm accusing you. I think the asshole left the car somewhere and your men came upon it." I felt warmer than usual but I was going to ask for it back anyways, "I really hope I'm not asking much if I ask for it back. It seems ridiculous, I know, but at camp we just stripped our best car apart and it'd help having another one that was in good shape."

He thought about it for several moments before walking to the car and opening the door to take a seat inside. "This one's my favorite," he paused before rubbing the seats, "but we do have others."

I gulped, hoping he'd say what I wanted to hear. "How many other cars do you guys have?"

"Several that're in good shape, actually."

Is he dodging the question? As hard as it was, I held my tongue.

"You guys have done a lot, I'll admit." He reached into the glovebox and pulled out the keys and tossed them to me, "As a token of my gratitude."

"Holy shit." I breathed, "This is unbelievable. I can't thank you enough, Guillermo."

He shrugged, "Don't worry, it's not a big deal. We found another El Camino in better shape the other day so it shouldn't be that big of a loss." He chuckled a bit and I couldn't keep the smile off my face.

"Good luck out there." He said before stepping out of the car.

"Take care of yourself, Guillermo. I hope we run into each other again."

I started up the car and asked for him to open the garage door for me. The looks on their faces were just priceless - if only I had a camera.

* * *

><p>I had Glenn sit in the middle, between Rick and I, while T-Dog and Daryl stayed in the back. They really didn't believe my story, and to be fair, it didn't sound credible anyways. That didn't bother me though, I had a car and it didn't matter how I got it. I was a bit shocked that Rick didn't freak out on me, but it was probably because Glenn was plopped right in between us.<p>

"I have to make a quick stop in Atlanta."

"You're kidding, right?" Glenn replied, "We just had a near miss and you want to go back?" He turned to Rick, "She's kidding, right?"

He shrugged in response and Glenn turned back to me, "Glenn, I really need to pick up my bag. It has all my belongings."

"I don't like it…but I guess I can sort of understand and –"

I cut him off, "Good cause I wasn't going to listen to you anyways," and slammed on the gas pedal down the empty freeway.

Oh fuck how I missed this car.

**I apologize for such a short chapter you guys, I've been so busy lately but my favorite shows are coming back on soon and so hopefully I can get back on track with chapters. Thank you for reading and being patient with me. **


	20. Chapter 20

**Thank you all for reading. I didn't get much feedback from the last chapter, so I really hope to hear from my viewers this time around. Also, be sure to check out my other story where it shares the same premise expect in that one, Rick is married to Lori like in the show. ;D**

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><p>Ah, how relieving it was to have my own car. Finally, something that belongs to <em>me<em>. Now, I know that I'll probably have to share it with the rest of the group, but still, it's _mine_.

We were nearing Atlanta, and I was pretty careless about attracting walkers to us, because the only thing my mind was set on was getting my gun and my bag back. It was also pretty entertaining to see the poor look on Glenn's face the whole time too. I could tell he was antsy on getting back and driving himself and the others in the van we left behind in Atlanta.

As soon as I pulled into the city, I looked over my shoulder to see how Daryl and T-Dog were holding up with my reckless driving (least I'm willing to admit I'm an awful driver). I looked over to Rick and he asked me if I was alright, "Yeah, just making sure everyone's still alive." I replied with a grin on my face.

On the way out of the city, I stopped where we parked for everyone who wanted to get in the box truck to get out, but there was something a little weird. It had to have been my memory because I drove to where I thought it was dropped off but it just wasn't there. I heard a light tap on the window behind me, probably from Daryl trying to tell me to stop, but I continued to cruise around the block where the box truck had been before. No, it couldn't have been my memory, I knew for sure we parked there.

"…what the fuck," I muttered under my breath before stopping the car, "Is this the right spot guys? I'm pretty sure we left it here." I heard Daryl and T-Dog jump out the back to walk around the area some more, but they'd probably end up just as confused as the three of us were.

"W-we did," Glenn agreed in a shaky voice, "We left it right here! Who could've stolen it?"

"Merle." Rick answered with a scowl.

"You, you think he's headed back to camp?" I asked, tightening my grip on the steering wheel.

"Son of a bitch!" He exclaimed, slamming his palm on the dashboard.

"We can make it back in time, Rick." I assured him and honked my horn. I was aware it probably wasn't that smart to do, but I needed to get T-Dog and Daryl back in the car as soon as possible. When they heard the honk, they returned with dirty looks on their faces, but I motioned for them to get in the back and we took off.

* * *

><p>We surprisingly made it back before dark, and after checking all of camp for any signs of Merle, we finally were able to settle down for the rest of the day. I had to admit I was giddy as hell, I had my gun, my belongings, my car, the group was safe and I could finally sit down. If only I had a beer and a naked man in the tent waiting for me.<p>

I went back to my tent to briefly go through my belongings while the guys told the rest of the group what happened back there in Atlanta – though they probably left out the whole situation with Guillermo, for good reason too. I didn't think it would go over smoothly with Shane or anyone else for that matter if they knew that Rick gave nearly half of the guns to those guys, but whatever, I agreed with the decision even though I am all for every man for themselves.

I overhead some chatter between Lori, Carol and Andrea, what sounded like mainly just comfort from Lori. Andrea said something along the lines of it not being her fault earlier and that now was her opportunity to finally get out of her relationship with Ed to keep her and Sophia safe; I suppose we missed a lot when we were out and about. I quickly lost interest though and continued inspecting my bag.

When everything was in place, I decided to rest my head on the rolled up sleeping bag for a bit. I was feeling a little lightheaded, probably from not having eaten much earlier before we headed out. It was one of those weird feelings where you're kind of hungry but you don't really want to make the effort of doing something about it so you just wait until your stomach grumbles and your friends or family nag at you to eat, yeah I know that's also called laziness but same difference.

I heard Carol call out that dinner would be ready in about an hour or so, which gave me enough time to just sit back, relax, and not have to listen to or deal with anyone's shit.

* * *

><p>I didn't get much rest, since Rick came into the tent just as I was drifting off to sleep. He kept apologizing, but I kept assuring him it was fine since I wouldn't have gotten much sleep in an hour anyways.<p>

He sat next to me on the small sleeping bag and wrapped his arm around me, "I'm glad you came today, you helped a lot."

I shrugged, "Just trying to pull my weight, that's all." I scooted closer and nuzzled against his neck a bit, "I feel like I haven't even asked how you're doing, Rick."

He gave me a small squeeze that made my chest feel warm, "I think things are starting to look up now, but I don't want to get my hopes up too high."

I nodded my head in response, "Yeah, tell me about it. We can never get too comfortable in this kind of world."

Rick leaned back and lay down, "But it is nice to relax for a bit," he yawned, "come lay with me, Belle."

That had a nice ring to it coming from him, even though I always hated being called that nickname through middle school and high school.

I rested my head on his chest and we remained there, enjoying the silence while we could. I could feel his heart beating and the slow rhythm was beginning to make me fall asleep, as if I were being cradled like a baby.

My lids felt heavy when he asked me something I didn't quite hear well the first time. I groaned in response and he chuckled, then repeated himself, "What do you miss the most?"

I was too tired to come up with a logical response, so I blurted out what came to mind, "Mmm…pizza." My legs felt cramped and I scooted away to stretch, which was a huge relief for my aching muscles. I propped myself up on my elbows, "How about you?"

"Honestly? Probably my job. It was something to keep me busy. I really enjoyed it, gave my life meaning by helping people out and keeping the city safe."

I laughed and rolled my eyes, "That sounds like _such_ a typical propaganda response!" I playfully nudged him with my elbow, "Come on Rick, be actually honest with me."

He furrowed his eyebrows together as if he was offended, and my grin slowly slipped into a frown when I realized he wasn't messing around. I was about to apologize, but he cut me off, "Beer." He laughed at my expression and grabbed my hand in an affectionate manner; I was relieved and laughed with him.

"I'm going to have to agree too, actually." I smiled before giving him a small kiss. "You think we'd be able to find any around here?" I asked after pulling away and resting my head on his chest like before.

"It'd be nice if we did." He lightly ran his fingers through my hair, which felt very assuring, sweet, and relaxing.

"Sure would." I quietly agreed.

I closed my eyes again for a brief moment, might as well have tried to catch some z's while I could. Especially in such a comfortable position.

"You make me feel safe, Rick." I mumbled before drifting off to sleep. Hopefully he caught what I said and if not, well I won't lose sleep over it. I'll have many more opportunities in the future.

* * *

><p>Someone shook me awake, "Belle, it's time to eat."<p>

I groaned and shook off their hand on my shoulder, "Not hungry."

"Come on." Rick persisted.

Mumbling profanities to myself, I finally pulled myself up to join him, "Fine, but I'm going to give you dirty looks the whole time."

He laughed, "Come on," he repeated, "you need to eat. I don't think I saw you eat today and you're getting thinner."

"I need to lose the weight anyways." I muttered as I joined him to the campfire.

It was more or less the same dinner we had the night before, squirrel, which I didn't mind too much. Anything was better than stale cereal without milk. The group didn't touch much of the canned food either, and for good reason, it was in case we had to leave the camp in an emergency.

It was only my second night with the group, but it felt like I'd been around since the beginning. I was really starting to appreciate how much they'd done to make me feel like I'm a part of the group. They all asked more about our trip to Atlanta, as well as continuing the discussion from last night about our previous lives. While Morales was talking about his younger days and how he met his wife, I took a quick head count and noticed some people were missing, notably Ed and Jim. That's odd, I recalled hearing from Dale the night prior that Jim enjoyed hanging out with the group, didn't hear the same thing about Ed but I couldn't give a shit about his whereabouts, from what I heard earlier I was glad he was away from Sophia and Carol.

When Morales finished speaking I asked the group about Jim, where they all fell silent. Shane looked at me and answered for everyone but with a curt reply, "Jim's tired, couldn't make it out tonight." He returned to eating and I didn't exactly buy his answer but it was still something. I kept eye contact with Shane, "Right…well, should someone check on him? I'm sure he wouldn't want to miss dinner with us."

Before I could stand, Shane glared, "He's tired, Isabelle. Sit down and enjoy dinner with the rest of us." Rick stayed out, thankfully, and everyone waited for me to say something.

I didn't like the answer, but I wasn't going to push it. "Alrighty then.." I said before sitting back down to finish eating. Eventually the group would see that Shane wasn't exactly the best example of a leader, something about him just didn't sit right with me.

I chewed on the tender squirrel while the rest of the group resumed discussion, Rick and Shane shared some police stories, I noticed Carl and Sophia share some squirrel which was adorable, Lori and Carol shared laughs, and Morales teased Dale for his watch.

"Time is important to keep track of, the days at least." He defended his winding watch habit before nudging Andrea, "Back me up here, Andrea." She laughed in response, "I don't know you, Dale." She joked before going back to eating.

He laughed in disbelief, "I can't be the only one who thinks it's pretty important."

I spoke up, "No, you have a point Dale. I thought I was the only one, honestly." I gave him a smile and the rest of the group laughed at us.

He shared a very interesting story about a father giving his son a watch, and I was actually really interested in hearing his reasoning for keeping track of the time. I assumed the same for the rest of the group, until after when it grew silent Amy told Dale he was "so weird".

We all shared a good laugh after that and continued to tease Dale for his bad paraphrasing of Faulkner.

I stepped away from the group when I was done eating for a smoke and my gun. I hadn't had it by me for a while and I felt pretty naked without it. Reaching in the tent, I grabbed a lighter I left in there the day before and the pack of cigarettes from the truck since I didn't want to waste the ones Jane left me.

I sat cross legged and placed a cigarette between my lips, then lit it. As bad as it was, it still felt oddly relaxing and like I said before, I'd come to the realization that I wasn't going to live long out here so might as well enjoy the hedonist lifestyle.

I finished the last drags of the cigarette before stomping it out on the ground when I heard some rustling over by Dale's RV. Before I could get there to investigate, I heard Amy's screams followed by the familiar hisses of walkers.

Son of a bitch.

I pulled my gun out and kept it in front of me, hoping the rest of the group heard the same thing, which they did since all I could hear now was a bunch of gunshots. Andrea ran to her sister on the ground and I couldn't see her condition, but I knew she was bit. Quickly, I took out the two walkers coming up from behind Andrea and the other one roaming around the RV. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jim run and smash his wooden bat into one of the walker's skulls before I could get it, sending brain matter across the ground. I took out another one behind him and ran to him.

"Jim, could you stay here and protect her?"

He nodded and I moved through the camp to take care of the other walkers stumbling into camp. I didn't have much ammo on me, probably around twelve bullets left in my clip so I had to make use of them the best I could.

I tried my best to follow the screams in the camp and help as many as I could, but I was too late for some. I couldn't recall her name, but I kicked off the walker tearing through her torso and pulling out her innards. I angrily stomped its head in so I didn't have to waste a bullet and leaned down next to her. She was going to die soon from blood loss and shock, and I wanted to make sure she wouldn't die alone.

I grabbed her hand firmly and kept her talking, "Hey, what's your name?" I tried to lighten the mood, "Sorry, I'm a bit of a dumbass and forgot."

She laughed weakly in response, "Aleesha, and it- it's okay." Aleesha tried to look down at her torso but I held her chin up to keep her looking at me. Her lip began to quiver and she kept her stare at me, "Am…am I going to die?"

Hold yourself together, Isabelle.

I pulled off my denim shirt and laid it on her torso, but I didn't want to lie to her. I squeezed her hand tightly, "Aleesha…it's not looking good."

"Just please stay with me." She begged while weakly keeping her grip on me.

"I will, I promise. You're safe with me." I listened briefly to hear if there were any more walkers in the area, but it seemed that they'd been cleared out. It sounded like the group had met up at the RV and was doing a head count, but I couldn't hear over Aleesha's scared whimpers.

"Shhh…shh, please, it'll be over soon." I comforted her and ran the back of my hand over her soft cheek. She was young, couldn't have been older than maybe twenty. What a fucking shame.

I heard Rick shouting my name in the background, shit – he was looking for me. I was about to stand up, because I didn't want to worry him or the rest of the group into thinking I was dead or missing but Aleesha pulled me down, too weak to say anything.

"It hurts." She said and I looked to my gun, I knew I couldn't just shoot her but I also couldn't leave her here because I had no idea how long it'd take for her to…pass.

She was eyeing the gun as well and she looked back up at me, "I don't want to hurt anymore."

"I-I don't know…" I hesitated, knowing full well it was wrong to argue with her in this situation.

"Make it quick." She pleaded. I didn't want to argue, I wanted her to die with her dignity and not because she begged for me to shoot her.

I cleared my throat and firmly grabbed my gun to press it against her forehead. She was shaking, as was I, "It'll be over soon." I assured, and pulled the trigger.

It was a quick death, and as sick as I felt, I was glad she didn't die alone. It was a shame that I just met her then though.

I pulled myself up and made my way to the RV, gun holstered and arms crossed to hide my bloody hands.

It was going to be a long day, and for the first time, I don't think I'm going to be prepared for it.


	21. Chapter 21

**I love you guys! Heart heart heart.**

**edit: to my lovely guest, soareagle, hopefully you see this as a response to your review: Eventually ;)**

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><p>"Isabelle!" Rick called my name when he could finally see me. He ran over to me and pulled me into a tight hug, "Where were you? I kept calling your name…" I stood with a stiff pose and kept my arms crossed, not wanting him to see my bloody hands.<p>

"I got lost." I lied.

I didn't want him to try to get more out of me, so I turned the focus away from me, "Where's everyone? Andrea?"

"Everyone here is all we have left." Glenn sighed and continued to stare at the ground. The rest of the group turned to Andrea holding Amy's head in her lap. Her weeping would keep everyone up all night, that's for sure.

I wish the group could've given her some sort of privacy.

Shane interrupted the group's silence, "We're gonna have to do something about the bodies."

Rick spoke sternly, "Give the group some time first."

He rolled his eyes but kept his mouth shut. I can't follow Shane's logic, I understand needing to get rid of the bodies, but half the group is dead and the survivors still needed some time to process what just happened.

The attention was turned to Jim when he said something about digging graves, but I didn't hear it. I didn't care much at the moment, I just wanted to sleep and be alone. I broke away from Rick's grip and rushed to the tent.

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><p><strong>September 13, 2010<strong>

The tent's rustling woke me from an already not so deep sleep. I groggily pushed myself to sit up and shielded my eyes from the bright sunlight peeking in, hoping it was just Rick.

As soon as the flap was fully unzipped, the smell of burning flesh stung my nostrils. Here's hoping they're just burning the walkers and not the group members, they deserved a proper burial.

"Isabelle?" Rick stepped into the tent, "How are you feeling?"

I rolled my eyes out of annoyance. The camp was just attacked and here he is asking how _I'm _feeling, "Get out." It wasn't the best choice of words, but the easiest ones to say at the moment.

He was baffled, "What's wrong with me asking how you're feeling?" Although he didn't raise his voice, I could tell he was confused, tired and frustrated. My attitude was seriously not helping but there was no other way to convey that I wanted to be alone without hurting his feelings.

I lowered my voice and tried to stay calm, but my emotions were slowly taking over, "Rick, I'm tired." I began, "I don't want to talk."

He sighed, "And what are you going to do? Just stay in here until you feel better?"

When he said it like that it did sound pretty ridiculous, but I kept trying to push that I didn't want to talk by remaining silent. However, he continued, "Isabelle, we _have to leave_. The camp isn't safe anymore and we can't wait because you're not feeling well."

How could he not be sympathetic to how I was feeling? Does he not realize that I'm suffering too? Is it not obvious that I just didn't want to fucking talk? Does there always have to be a reason?

"People will die, Isabelle. _It happens_. I'm going to die one day, so are you – it's something that we're going to have to get used to. You can't just shut down every time it happens." It was starting to sound like a lecture and I didn't want to hear it, especially not now.

"I'm not a fucking child!" I spat, hoping that'd be the end of it yet neglecting the fact that Rick could be almost as stubborn as me.

He rubbed his temples out of frustration but kept the same calm tone, "I never said otherwise." Why is he so patient with me?

"It sure as hell sounds like it." I argued, "Can't I just b-" He cut me off when he grabbed my hand, which was covered in caked blood.

"What happened? Were you bit?" He asked with worry lingering in his voice, changing the tone of the entire conversation.

I quickly pulled my hand away, "No, I wasn't bit." He reached slowly for them again and this time I let him examine them, "It's not my blood." I added.

"Then whose is it?"

"I don- I didn't know her." The thought that she would be forgotten and that there would be no one to mourn her depressed me. Was the same going to happen to me when I die? Who would even tell my family?

He stayed quiet, in fact we both did. It was a nice silence. It gave me time to sort my thoughts and figure out what to say. The words flowed from my mouth as I remembered how I found her, "Her torso was torn apart, guts hanging out and everything. I got there when she was pretty much being eaten alive." I felt my hands shake slightly at the memory, "After I took care of the walker I tried to keep her company but she told me she didn't want to hurt anymore…so I shot her." It was the right thing to do but it sounded so awful saying it aloud.

"It's something else, ain't it?" He sighed while giving my hand a small squeeze. Rick was probably referencing that first walker he ever shot. Bicycle girl was what I remembered her by. I remember how shaken up he was when he first told me about her.

I nodded, but was surprised the tears didn't fall. I knew I'd been growing desensitized to the walkers themselves, but it's different when it's a human being dying in front of you. Well it's a completely different scenario when you're shooting another human being.

"I'm fine though, which is weird. I'm not sad about shooting her and it's freaky but I know it was the right thing to do." I paused, "I think what scares me is that sooner or later I won't even think twice about shooting someone." I looked back up at him, "I don't want to be a killer."

He tenderly rested his palm on my cheek, "You're not though, you did the right thing. It would've been cruel to just leave her there." He assured me softly before giving me a kiss on my forehead.

"I know, I know." I leaned into his touch, "I'm sorry for being so stubborn."

"Everyone's been on edge, it's only normal for you to be too." He wrapped his arm around me, "Group's almost done getting rid of the bodies, you should get your things together so we can get out of here." He left the tent to return to the group. I packed quietly, hoping that we'd be out of here as soon as possible.

* * *

><p>I walked out of the tent into an argument between Shane and Rick, great. Well, at least our next location would be decided at this point.<p>

"We need to go to Fort Benning!" Shane argued over and over again, only for Lori to shake her head in disagreement, "That's about a hundred miles in the opposite direction, Shane! There's no way all of us could make it that far."

"Right, but it's away from the Hot Zone! If there's any food and protection, it's there right with the military." He turned to Rick and continued, "Face it, Rick, it's our best chance. No way we know the CDC is still up and running."

"Shane, if there's any government structure left, don't you think they'd protect the CDC at all costs?"

"Rick, what makes you think they'll let us in?" I had to chime in because Rick was setting his hopes a little too high. I couldn't imagine the personnel there just letting us in and wait the whole thing out.

"I don't but it's a lot better than driving in the opposite direction like Lori said. They have food, shelter, protection, everything we need to last us a good while."

"Listen Rick, you and I both want that, and if there's any place with any of those, it's the army base."

Rick wouldn't give up, "We all saw what happened to the last of the military. The walkers overran them easily."

I nodded in agreement and added, "They probably wouldn't let us in either. They might mistake us for walkers and just shoot us-"

"And how do you know that?" Shane interjected.

"I do know that they wouldn't take the chances of any of us being infected. You really think the remnants of the military would have to follow orders anyways? Who knows who's in charge there…"

Shane shook his head at the idea, making it very clear that he was hellbent on going to Fort Benning, "And what do we do if there's nothing at the CDC?"

Rick pressed the CDC one last time, and at this point a majority of the group was agreeing with him. "Shane, it's our best chance." He lowered his voice only for us to hear, "It's Jim's _only_ chance."

Jim's only chance? What's wrong with Jim?

* * *

><p>Everyone returned to their respective cars once we'd said goodbye to Jim. He was bitten in the attack, and I wish I'd known so I could've done something – anything to help him. I'd only learned after the group decided where to go. Honestly feels like we lost a soldier today.<p>

It was just me and Rick in my El Camino; Daryl, Glenn, and T-Dog in a small red truck; Shane, Lori, and Carl in a Jeep; and the rest of the group piled into Dale's RV which was starting to look like it wouldn't be making it much father. We'd lost Morales and his family earlier as well, when they decided to basically go in the opposite direction, I couldn't really recall where though.

I was wondering about how Andrea was holding up, Rick had been telling me about how no one could get close to her or Amy and how Andrea pulled a gun on him (again) when he tried to talk to her. While the remainder of the group was preparing to leave, a gun shot rang out telling us that she was ready to go as well. I can't imagine what she's feeling right now. Probably a little empty, just like how I felt leaving Jane's place.

Our convoy pulled over several times to do some quick maintenance on Dale's RV, but I had a feeling the whole group knew it wouldn't be lasting much longer. I mean, it could definitely make it to the CDC, but if nothing's there, I'm doubtful it'd make it out of Atlanta.

It'd been a mostly quiet ride, and finally we started to get into the general area around the CDC. I didn't recognize the area, but Rick did.

He broke the silence with a small smile too, "Looks like we're getting pretty close."

I crossed my fingers, hoping it'd still be intact.

We pulled up to the front and all parked by the curb in front of this large mirror like building. Boy was it massive. Rick and I grabbed our weapons, along with everyone else.

There were only piles in bodies lining the outside of the building. They all had military uniforms too, not exactly the best sign but I was going to stay optimistic for once.

It was only silent, and the longer we were there the more I could feel my optimism slip away and be replaced by some serious anxiety. I've come to the conclusion that I've completely disregarded the whole "stay calm" advice and training I got from basic.

The smell was the worst thing after the sight of all the bloated and decomposing bodies. Shane and Rick slowly led the way, while everyone else was trying their best to not throw up at the sight and smell. I was actually surprised with myself for not having puked already.

"You sure this is it?" Shane asked quietly, but before he could elicit a response from Rick, we all heard slight shuffling from several walkers around the block who hadn't noticed us yet.

Rick placed his hand on my lower back to get me moving quickly, while Shane and Daryl led the rest of the group quicker, "Alright, come on, keep moving and stay quiet!" He quietly ordered.

I could hear Lori comfort Sophia and Carl behind me, which helped calm me down a bit as well.

We reached the shutters and Shane tried to pull them up but nothing happened. My heart sank at the thought that we came here for nothing and now we'd be trapped. We could easily be outnumbered here by walkers and that would just be the end of it. No, no, I wasn't going to let that happen. I wasn't going to die or let anyone else die here.

Rick and Glenn pounded on the doors, but again to avail.

"There's no one here…" T-Dog sounded discouraged, but Rick wouldn't give up on us, "Then why are the shutters down?" He returned his attention to the door, probably looking for some entrance we may have missed.

"Walkers!" Daryl called out and I turned around to see several coming our way. Quickly, he shot the walker in the head, but we all knew sooner or later that there'd be more coming in.

Daryl immediately turned his crossbow on Rick, "You led us to a graveyard!"

Shane jumped in the way between them, while Rick kept his focus on the shutter, "He made a call!"

"A bad one!" I knew Daryl wasn't going to actually shoot Rick, but he certainly wasn't planning on putting his crossbow down anytime soon.

Shane shoved him back, "Shut up! You hear me? Shut the hell up!" He kept Daryl back and he soon put his crossbow down. Last thing we needed was all of us shooting each other.

Shane turned back to Rick, "Rick, this is a dead end. The hell do we do now?"

Everyone was overwhelming Rick with questions, including Lori, but he kept his cool. I kept my back turned to the group and instead was watching our rear with Glenn and Andrea, we were expecting more walkers to show up because we knew that one wasn't alone.

"Fort Benning is still an option, Rick!" Shane was pretty close to begging. Though he really got on my nerves at times, the way he was handling this situation was extremely honorable. I honestly expected a huge "I told you so" but I was glad he knew that's not what Rick needed.

The group was beginning to beg Rick to leave, but Andrea and Dale were also arguing that we didn't have enough food or fuel to make the trip to Fort Benning and that it'd be near impossible. I stayed out of it.

We were beginning to leave and Shane was ordering everyone back to their respective cars, but then Rick made a dash back to the shutter and began yelling…

…at the camera. Some sort of surveillance camera pointing at us. Dale kept telling him that it wasn't anything and that we needed to leave immediately, but Rick stayed put.

"I know you're in there! I know you're watching us!" He yelled then pounded the shutter again, "_Please_, we're desperate!" He begged, and I told the group to stop running to the cars. Someone was listening. Rick was right, the camera was moving.

Everyone was standing around, some now deciding that it would be better to just make the risky trip to Fort Benning but I quietly told them to shut it.

"Please help us, we have women and children. No food, hardly any gas left! We have nowhere else to go!"

And nothing happened. I was starting to agree with the rest of the group about just leaving and was about to drag Rick back to the car, but he had one last thing to shout, "If you don't let us in you're killing us!"

Silence.

Shane lunged forward and threw his forearm around Rick's neck to drag him back towards the cars. There was no point. We were going to die if we stayed there and we had to leave now.

I was rushing back with the others, the pounding in my chest drowning out Rick's repeated shouts, until it suddenly became bright.

Looks like someone was listening after all.

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><p><strong>Thank you so much all for reading. Please don't forget to leave your thoughts in a review. Also, happy holidays!<strong>


	22. Chapter 22

**There is a good chance that I will be occasionally slipping into 3rd person in the rest of the story, but fear not m'loves, I'll put a heads up. :)**

**SO I fixed the major fuck up and made it much more sexier ;) Also, I hate to do this to my lovely readers, but I'm not as interested in this story anymore. I can't tell if anyone is still reading it and I feel a little burnt out. This usually happens on long walking dead breaks like this one, but it'd be nice to see what my readers think sometimes.**

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><p>Lying here on my side I wonder what the hell kind of decisions did I make to end up here.<p>

I sighed and turned my head, "Well at least I got a bed too," I said dryly. I laughed at my poor attempt at a joke but it was the only thing that would keep me sane. I'd probably feel a little better had I gotten to finish a bottle of wine, as my soberness was slowly coming back.

Sick of being on my side, I turned to be on my back again to resume staring at the ceiling. Just as I'd been doing for the past, oh I don't know, maybe hour or two. My eyes fluttered a bit from the lack of rest but I forced them open. Sure, I was tired - but I couldn't sleep. How could I anyways? I'd be lying to myself if I said I were _actually_ comfortable. Everyone knows I'm not. Everyone knows I'm not happy to be here, but no one cares to say anything. I'm sure Rick has some choice words for Dr. Jenner but he won't share because he knows having me locked in here is the best way to keep everyone calm - even if it's at my expense.

* * *

><p>Nearly everyone was blinded when the gate finally slid up, everyone unsure whether we'd be walking into another trap or not. The chances would be slim, yeah, but it's always important to play it safe. My father, brother, hell everyone always told me to never get too complacent - it'll get you killed.<p>

No one stood there, waiting for us. We weren't going to question it though, and so Rick led the group in while Shane kept an eye on our backs. We entered the very empty building and I could feel myself relax a bit when the door or gate thing shut behind us. While the place looked abandoned, I knew someone had to be there. It definitely couldn't have been automated systems or something like that, they'd never let in some civilian group just like that.

Dale warned for walkers and before Rick could shout again for someone or something to come out, we heard the cock of a shotgun.

"Hello?" He called out, "Anyone infected?"

"One of ours was." Rick kept his gun raised, "Didn't make it."

The other man wasn't going to put his gun down either, "Who are you and why are you here? What do you want?"

I couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of his question, the world's gone to shit and it's a miracle we've made it this long and he wants to know what we want. Well if I were certain he wouldn't shoot me I'd definitely take the time to write up a list and give it to him, but this wasn't the time or place for me to be a smart ass...as tempting as it was.

Rick was shaking a bit, not as much as Lori and the rest though, "A chance." Shaking not out of fear though, probably anxiety. Hell, I was sweating up a storm too but Rick had every right to be; he was speaking to our last chance of survival.

The man stepped closer, but with a more relaxed stance, "That's asking for an awful lot these days."

"I know."

He put his gun down but eyed the rest of the group before speaking again, "You all submit to a blood test. That's the price for admission." He said sternly. Rick did not hesitate to agree, "We can do that."

* * *

><p>I felt really nervous about that blood test, though I had to reason to be.<p>

The doors were resealed after we retrieved our belongings, Dr. Jenner led us to an underground laboratory for our blood tests. I was surprised that he seemed so lighthearted, making small talk and jokes with the rest of the tense group. Actually, I was probably the only one laughing with him, everyone was still so very nervous.

We eventually made it to a more clinical setting, an all white and crisp clean room. I almost felt like I'd be offending him with just my presence, considering how dirty my garments were and while I don't usually get really terrible BO, I couldn't imagine I smelled like cherry blossoms.

The blood tests ran smoothly, most were ins and outs of the small chair Jenner placed next to him and Daryl and I were last. Not sure why he volunteered last, probably shared the same fear of needles I had.

It was a bit nerve wracking having all of us in the same room for the blood tests, but I didn't think much of it. When Jenner called my name, I hopped out of my seat, eager to just get it over with. Rick joined too, probably because he saw how nervous I was feeling at the moment.

"Scared of needles?" Jenner joked when I sat down.

"No-" My voice squeaked and I blushed then cleared my throat, "Uh, no not really. I just...prefer not to be poked by them."

He smiled and nodded, "Well, don't worry it'll be quick." He tied a tourniquet around my upper arm and asked me to make a fist. Before sanitizing the area, he traced over the small bite mark on my forearm, "What happened here?" He asked in an unsettling accusatory tone. Did he...did he think I was hiding a potential walker bite?

I laughed, as I usually do when I get nervous, hoping this was a joke but answered nonetheless, "I can't remember that well, actually. Might've been a dog attack or just one of those college nights. Why?"

He looked over to Rick before returning his look to me and my smile faded, "Just wondering. Can never be too careful." He stuck the needle in and I looked the other way, I cannot stand the sight of my blood being drawn. I made the dumb decision of turning my head slightly for a quick peek, but it was the wrong choice. Immediately, I felt a little lightheaded and swayed a bit, only for Rick to hold me in the chair.

"Are you okay?" Jenner placed the palm of his hand on my shoulder, which felt soothing. I nodded but didn't say a word in response, instead Rick spoke for me, "She hasn't eaten in a while. Neither have the rest of us."

Jenner finished drawing my blood into this small tube, and even though it probably wasn't that much blood, I felt that all my blood had been drained out. I _really_ needed sleep and something to eat. Maybe some sex, but hey we can't all have what we want.

* * *

><p><strong>3rd Person POV begins here:<strong>

"Wow, this is kickass, Jenner." Isabelle took another sip of the surprisingly sweet red wine. She would've toasted the group but she was already beginning to feel the warm effects of the alcohol in her system, considering she'd always been a lightweight. _I'm so getting shitfaced tonight_, she thought to herself and couldn't keep the big smile off her face. She could slowly feel her problems slip away with each additional sip.

Jenner began to fidget in his seat. Although feeling optimistic about the blood results, there was something in the back of his mind that was beginning to bother him. The whole thing about Isabelle's bite and her not recalling any of it set off a serious alarm in his head, though he chose to stay quiet as to not create panic within the group. Right now, he wanted everyone to enjoy themselves, so he sat still, knocked back a couple drinks and listened to their conversations, occasionally chiming in.

When the time was right and he knew the blood results were ready, he slipped away from the table and anxiously awaited the results to come up. Just as he expected.

Jenner re-read the list because he'd been too distracted by his own thoughts, mindlessly skimming the results he expected, but pausing at the results for Isabelle.

Unknown.

Unknown? He shook his head, this couldn't be possible. Everyone was infected. Jenner quickly ran a search in the CDC's database for a diagnosis of "unknown". Not much came up, as the CDC fell quickly after the outbreak and not much research had been done. He couldn't sit around here fucking with the computers though, he needed to isolate the patient before this new "strain" could spread - whatever it was.

When he returned to the table he took notice right away that Isabelle wasn't there. He wanted to ask where she was, but again, he had to do it carefully. "Did Isabelle go to the bathroom? Hope she finds her way." He joked, hoping it'd sound good enough.

The man in the sheriff uniform who introduced himself as Rick Grimes laughed and shook his head, "Hopefully, but she probably got lost."

A perfect opportunity. "I'll go show her the restroom then." He excused himself once again and left to look for her.

Once Jenner was far enough from the group he inquired about Isabelle's location through Vi, the CDC's VI. "Vi, where's Isabelle?"

"Currently in the women's restroom down the hall."

"Lock the restroom but no alarm, please. Tell the group in the dining hall to gather in the lab and to wait for me." He added before leaving, "Also, make sure she stays calm."

* * *

><p>Isabelle finished her business in the women's restroom, slightly tipsy, she stumbled out and reached the sink for balance. She smiled into the mirror, already feeling better and slightly flushed. Not only was she excited about being in a safe place, she was happy about taking an actual shower again.<p>

Even though it was a little thing, washing her hands with the lukewarm water felt oh so relieving. She took the time to completely clean her hands, under the nails and cuticles, as well as even washing up to her elbows. Living out there in the humid weather made her feel dirty all of the time. After admiring the clean scent lingering on her hands, she checked how she looked in the mirror briefly before exiting the restroom.

Well, she tried to exit. _Oh come on,_ _I'm sober enough to open a door._ She chuckled and figured it was her not grabbing the door correctly and tried again, only it wouldn't budge. Not one bit. She gripped it harder and twisted it but to no avail. She was locked in.

"Fuck..." She mumbled to herself before giving up.

Her chest tightened and she was beginning to panic, she couldn't be in there any longer. It wasn't possible, it wasn't healthy. Who was going to get her out? Was it even possible? From the situation it seemed that it was the VI system locking her in, and the chances of anyone being able to override that would be slim if the VI had a very valid reason for locking her in. Could it have thought she was infected? Not possible, it couldn't be. All the scenarios ran through her mind, making her more nervous and harder to fight the urge of a full blown meltdown.

"Please! Someone!" Isabelle desperately pounded at the door, but quickly realized that it wouldn't do much. The CDC was built in a way to completely isolate anyone who happened to be infected.

Would the system listen to her if she spoke to it?

"...Vi?"

No response, but she wouldn't give up.

"Why am I here?"

Silence.

"Please, answer me, why am I here?" She begged but held back the tears. No way would a virtual intelligence be sympathetic to her feelings anyways, but it didn't hurt to try.

The VI finally responded but it was not the response Isabelle wanted to hear, "Dr. Jenner ordered me to keep you calm, is there anything I can do for you?"

_Well you can let me the fuck out, _she thought but remained quiet. There was no point in replying, she wouldn't be told the reason she was being locked in even though she had the sneaking suspicion over what it was. It was funny to her though, she could accept being infected. What concerned her was _how_. She'd always been careful not to even get scratched and she hadn't had many encounters with walkers anyways. It just wasn't possible.

It couldn't be...

She didn't belong there...

There had to have been a mistake.

* * *

><p><strong>3rd person is <strong>_**not**_** my strength. At all. At least I tried though, right? I kept this chapter short for a reason though, I wanted to see how 3rd person POV would sit with my readers and I wanted to get something out before Thanksgiving... Anyways, thank you all for reading and please leave feedback! I love hearing what you guys think :D**

**1/3 edit: I'm fucking stupid guys. Forgot to fix the other plot hole but now all is well **


	23. Chapter 23

**So sorry for the long hiatus! Life happens! I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and leave your thoughts in a review, also, I cannot guarantee consistency with future updates. I am so sorry I've been lagging like crazy, and it's been a while so my writing has been a bit weak. Again, I'll be switching from 1****st**** to 3****rd**** occasionally, if it gets confusing let me know everyone. I love you all!**

**Please be forgiving of any inconsistencies/plot holes, I haven't reread my story and it's been a really long while since I read it last.**

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><p>"Jenner requests that you all meet in the lab." Vi's voice echoed throughout the dining hall and Rick immediately could sense something was wrong, considering this request was made after Isabelle had left the table. He didn't try to think much of it though.<p>

Andrea looked at him suspiciously, "Think it's anything bad?"

He shook his head in response, "Can't really think of anything." He turned his attention back to the group, "Well, you all heard her. Let's finish up and get going." He hurriedly took another sip of his wine and led the group to the lab, where Jenner awaited them.

* * *

><p>Well, this was it. I couldn't imagine any other scenario in which I'd be locked in here. I must be infected, in fact I'd sort of already accepted that. What I just couldn't seem to process was <em>how<em>, how the hell did I get infected? I _always_ made sure to keep my distance from walkers, hell I don't think I'd ever really been up close and personal with all of them.

Should I even try talking to Vi again? Is it even worth it?

"Vi…" I began, only to receive silence in response. It wouldn't hurt to try though, "Vi…am I infected?"

Who am I kidding, she wasn't about to answer that kind of question. If I get out of here I could at least say that I tried, right?

"Can I get a hot shower at least?" I chuckled to myself, hoping I could maybe get Vi to lighten up a bit, but hey, that wasn't happening. I'm probably slowly losing it.

"I've received permission to inform you of the situation." Ah ha! She finally spoke. She, he, it, whatever, Vi finally spoke. I didn't interrupt her, I just waited for her to continue speaking, whatever I had to do to get out of here or at least learn what was going on.

"Doctor Jenner has discovered an anomaly in your results, it reads as…unknown." I was surprised to hear it nearly hesitate. I was even more dumbfounded at the whole "unknown" thing, I mean, what was that supposed to even mean?

"Wha- unknown? I thought it was just…just infected or not." I crinkled my eyebrows together but remained sulked on the bathroom floor, nothing was coming to mind. Nothing made sense. "Is there anything else you can tell me?" I asked, hoping I could get the most out of her as possible.

"The only way I can give you more is that you answer a series of questions for Doctor Jenner. Help me help you, Isabelle."

I sighed, more questions. Great. "I think I can do that."

"Doctor Jenner noticed a small scar on your forearm, do you recall when and where you received that scar?" Ugh, please stop saying Doctor Jenner. And what's with everyone feeling the need to point out that scar?

"I don't recall." I muttered, taking a closer look at my forearm, it didn't look all that weird, it didn't look like a fresh scar, hell it felt like it's been there my whole life. But I had to admit something felt a little _off_ about it…

"But then again, I don't-" I hesitated for a moment, "I don't really recall getting it before the outbreak. I know I suffered from some memory loss about a month back or so…." I trailed off trying to recollect my thoughts, but some memories were just coming up blank. _Again._

Vi remained silent for several minutes, I assumed she was looking through the research databases and was just coming up short. Just my luck.

"How long am I going to be in here?"

"It's hard to determine, Isabelle."

"I really wish you'd stop saying that."

* * *

><p>"What do you mean you 'quarantined' her?" Rick asked, his patience quickly fading.<p>

"Rick…" Shane kept his eye on Rick, hoping he could keep his cool. For once, he was the one keeping a cool head.

"It's too early to explain the circumstances, Rick…" Jenner began cautiously, "I want to run some tests before giving you a certain answer."

Rick was trying to keep his cool but the whole idea of not knowing anything until the tests were done was beginning to drive him nuts, "And how long will that take? You expect me to just sit here and wait for you to be done with that?"

Andrea cut in, "Is she infected?"

"I didn't say that." Jenner quickly replied, being careful not to incite any sort of panic in the group.

"Then why can't you give us a straight answer?" Rick asked again.

"It's a complicated situation everyone." Jenner himself was starting to lose his patience, how was he supposed to answer their questions without everyone freaking out? "I can't give anything away yet until I know what's happening-"

"You're damn right it's complicated. You got one of our own locked up in your bathroom and you ain't telling us what's going on." Shane continued, "You think we're gonna just wait around till your tests are done?"

"He's right, Jenner. You can't just lock up one of our own and then just keep us in the dark." Dale agreed, hoping the situation would come to a close soon.

Jenner was beginning to grow frustrated as well, "I'm trying my best to keep the situation under control and make sure-"

Vi interrupted, "Jenner, Isabelle requests your presence immediately."

Jenner sighed and looked back to the group, knowing they wouldn't like what he would have to say, "If you'll excuse me." He walked past the group, leaving them in the now silence but highly tense lab.

Andrea sighed, "What a load of shit."

Rick nodded in agreement, "Let's just all go back to dinner. I'll talk to him myself." He looked to Shane to lead the group back while he went to follow Jenner. He was wanting answers, not excuses. Rick couldn't stand to have any more time wasted.

* * *

><p>"I'm not going to answer anything until I can speak to Jenner." I insisted. Usually my stubbornness helped me get what I want but it's a totally different story when speaking to a robot or whatever. "Come on, just tell him I want to speak with him and I'll give you everything you want."<p>

Silence, yet again. She's good at this – I'm better.

"I have requested Jenner's presence. He should be arriving shortly." I wasn't too surprised. I still wasn't about to speak though, it could be a trick to get me to speak for all I know. I just wasn't about to speak until I could hear, no not even hear, until I could _see_ Jenner my damn self.

Well we can't always get what we want, so I had to settle for the monitor in the upper corner of the bathroom. Why they had one there in the first place was beyond me, but hey it was my only option at the time.

His face appeared on the monitor, I didn't think I'd be so happy to see him.

"Isabelle? Vi said you needed to talk to me."

"Well yeah, you see Jenner I'm in a bit of a predicament. I'm kind of locked inside of a bathroom with a crazy VI who likes to play both good and bad cop." I said sarcastically, I mean, of course I needed to talk to him.

He chuckled but went straight to business, "I'm sure Vi has told you what's up, right?"

"Correct." I answered short and sweet. Believe me, I wanted to cooperate. But not until I knew everything about the situation, especially about what this "unknown" diagnosis meant.

"So why do you need to talk to me?" He asked.

"I just…" I trailed off before picking up again, "I think I should be given all the information regarding the diagnosis Vi's been telling me about. I want to know everything so I can help you better." He seemed to understand, as he nodded over the monitor. "That and I never was a big fan of talking to Vis." I added, and he chuckled softly. It made me feel a little better about everything.

"I understand where you're coming from, Isabelle," he began, and I was already expecting an answer I wouldn't like, "But I don't know any more than you do. I tried searching the database for any information – any hint – as to what 'unknown' means but nothing came up." He paused thoughtfully, "The only way I can really get an answer is through you."

I nodded my head in response. Although it was more or less the same answer I would have gotten from Vi it was much more reassuring for it to come from another human being. Another thing was that there wasn't much reason _not_ to help Jenner. If I didn't I would only set back his research, and honestly, what good would that do?

I made eye contact with him once again through the monitor, "What do you need?"

"Okay, I get that I have to cooperate, but if I told Vi that I don't remember what makes you think that answer will be any different with you?" I was starting to grow slightly frustrated. The two of them were making me remember something that just wasn't coming to me.

It was apparent that Jenner was growing slightly frustrated as well. But it wasn't that we were getting annoyed with each other, it was more of the situation that was the real pain in the ass.

He tried a different approach, "Where were you before the outbreak?"

I sorted through the little memories I had before all of this, "I- I'm sorry…"

Jenner remained patient, "Tell me as much as you know, Isabelle." He spoke in a both patient and affirmative tone.

"After basic…I stayed here. I remember that. I remember staying with Jane, my best friend. I remember she was bit and-"

He cut me off immediately, "Where were you when she was bit? What happened?"

Again with the sorting through my memories. Where was I? I remember her being bit. I remember her being sick. I recollected the night before, we went out and had a girls night. I remember something about a note, for someone. Her boyfriend, it was. Larry, no it was Lu- it was Luke.

I felt my heart sank a bit in my chest. How could I have forgotten him? Was he even alive?

"Well?" Jenner prodded, he probably could tell I was getting closer to the answer he needed.

"I – I remember a night out with Jane. The next morning, we were hungover and…and she wanted food." I smiled at the memory, "I think, no – I know that we went to get coffee…" It was coming back to me, albeit slowly.

But the thing was that there was nothing much of relevance at the coffee shop.

"I just remember her being sick. I just remember me being sick, Jenner. I don't fuckin' know…my head hurts," The dull ache in both my arm and head was beginning to severely detract me from the conversation. Why did he have to ask so many questions? I didn't want to talk anymore. Too tired.

"Come on, Isabelle, you're so close..." His voice began to fade. He began to fade.

He pushed me, just kept pushing me. But he didn't know me. He didn't know my god damn situation. How could he just sit there, all comfortable in his office, and act like he's the one suffering?! _I'm _the one locked in here. I have no one. Nowhere to go after this. The whole group will probably abandon me after this. They probably think I'm infected, a threat...

…worthless.

It became dark suddenly. I felt nothing. I was at peace.

* * *

><p>Jenner quietly returned to the group. Immediately it became tense, there were so many questions that needed to be answered and simply not enough time. He waited for everyone's attention before speaking. He could feel the intensity of their stares, and could they be blamed? One of them had been locked up, without explanation whatsoever.<p>

"Well?" Rick's jaw tightened. He was sick of waiting.

"You're all clean." Jenner was aware that this wasn't the news they'd been wanting to hear, but he wanted to start with something good."

There was a slight sigh of relief in the room, yet still so many unanswered questions.

"All of us?" Andrea chimed in, unsure of how the answer would change the future of the group and its survival.

Jenner thought carefully before speaking. He was well aware of the uproar it would cause if he shares Isabelle's "diagnosis", or lack thereof.

_Is she infected? _

_Is she contagious?_

_When will she turn, if she does?_

_Why didn't you tell us?_

"Spill it, doc." Shane said sternly, with a slight hint of a warning in his tone.

The doctor kept his head down, there was nothing worse than _not_ knowing what was wrong with a patient. "I'm not sure about Isabelle," he sighed and continued, "Her blood came back as 'unknown'."

He quickly cut off anyone and spoke again, "I'm trying – believe me – to piece it all together. I had her quarantined briefly as a precaution." The group nodded in understanding, although he could tell they still were not happy with that decision.

"Where is she now?" Rick asked, hoping to be able to see her soon.

"I moved her to a room by my lab after it was determined that she is _not_ contagious." The doctor made sure to place emphasis on the "not contagious" part; the last thing he needed was for misunderstandings. He continued, "But until I figure out what this all means I think it would be best for her to be alone." He made sure to leave out the fact that she passed out.

"What if that's not what she wants, doc?" Rick interjected, slowly growing irritated with not knowing what was wrong.

"I just need time." Jenner's patience was beginning to wear off. He needed to not only figure out what the hell was wrong with Isabelle, but keep the group at bay. But it wasn't something he couldn't handle, he only needed time. "I have to get back to work." And with that he turned on his heel and returned to his lab, leaving the group in the now somber dining hall.

It was going to be hard to give the doctor the time he needed, but it was something that needed to be done.

* * *

><p><strong>I am aware that this is a filler chapter, and I apologize for that. I just need to get back on the hang of things. I haven't had much time lately and I finally was able to get some inspiration and time recently, so I figured why the fuck not. I hope my readers are still around~! Please do share your thoughts!<strong>


	24. Chapter 24

_Why did you let this happen to me?_

_Why did you leave me?_

_The voices echoed slowly throughout the empty house. _

_How could you let me die? You left me to die. You left us._

_Useless._

_You only cared about yourself. _

_Selfish._

_You could have saved me. Us._

_You couldn__'__t even save yourself._

_You can__'__t save yourself. You can__'__t save your friends. You can't save your man. He doesn__'__t care. They don__'__t care._

_Worthless._

She woke up in a sweat, panting and nearly panicked. It was simply another nightmare. But this one was different. The details were blurry but the pieces of her dreams were starting to finally come together.

She sat up. The surroundings were unfamiliar. She remembered the cold, tiled floor of the bathroom. This was different – a more clinical setting. Isabelle rubbed her temples, she could still feel the dull ache but felt a little more rested.

The door opened slightly and Jenner poked his head inside, "Isabelle?" He was hoping she would be awake, as the blood work still couldn't tell him much without her story. He just needed to know where to look for his answer.

"What the fuck?" She asked aloud, confused. _Wasn't I supposed to be quarantined?_ She thought to herself. It was still a good sign though, it meant that she wasn't endangering the group. But it brought her to the next issue at hand, if the group knew.

He came closer to the bed and took a seat next to her. Before speaking, he placed the back of his palm against her forehead to feel for a fever. Her fever remained, but slightly improved. All that Jenner could tell was that she had similar symptoms to those who suffered from the infection before passing. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Fine…" she trailed off, "My head still hurts."

"You still have a fever."

"Not the first time…" she replied, annoyed.

To Jenner it appeared that for some reason she was only experiencing the symptoms of the pathogen, minus the dying and reanimating part. And these symptoms must have to do with the infection, otherwise her blood work would not have been so shocking.

"How long have you been getting fevers? Do you think this has to do with anything before the outbreak?"

Her mind was too distracted on her dream. She could remember the coffee shop, the homeless man, the bites. She could remember trying to get Jane out of their in one piece but failing. Isabelle felt like a failure. How could she have sat there and done nothing while her best friend was being attacked? Not only that, but she could remember leaving Luke. She didn't know his fate, and even though she knew she should have stayed, deep down she knows what she did was right. It still didn't make her feel better.

Isabelle was tuning out Jenner before cutting in, "I was bit. I remember it now." She stated with no emotion. It wasn't something she wanted to admit, not that she was hiding it.

Jenner was taken aback for a moment, never had he encountered a case where someone survived a bite. Most would be fine for up to a day or maybe even two if they were lucky, but the infection would soon take over and eliminate any possibility of survival. This case was remarkable. His previous research had really gotten him nowhere, considering he had lost contact with all other disease prevention centers across the globe. There was a good possibility he was the only scientist alive that was working on some cure, some answers at least - and this frightened him.

Her let her continue to get as much information as he could, "I don't necessarily remember _everything_, but- but I keep having these fucking nightmares. And it's starting to make sense, you know?" She hoped for them to stop, but she knew it wasn't going to anytime soon.

"What happened in you nightmares?" He asked. Any information pertaining to her nightmares would only be more pieces to the puzzle.

"We were both bit by some homeless guy. I remember freezing, just..." Isabelle sighed, sounding disappointed, "I don't remember much after but I know I woke up feeling like absolute shit. High fever, awful headache, just shitty all over." She paused briefly, "It felt like I was going to die."

The memory loss was beginning to make sense to Jenner, surviving a traumatic event with the added fever and head injury she'd suffered probably caused locular amnesia. Recoverable, he thought; still a hassle, nonetheless.

He threaded lightly with his questions; he didn't want her to grow frustrated and not want to cooperate like before. Jenner knew it wouldn't be the best to ask about her friends, considering they weren't with the group. So he left it at that. All he really needed to know what the story behind the bite, but it doesn't explain her still being alive. Doesn't explain her blood coming back as 'unknown' instead of infected. Could it be possible that she was one of the few, if not, the only one who was immune? Would it be possible that she could be some sort of key to the cure?

Jenner stood up to exit the room to go re-examine her blood work when she stopped him, "Where's everyone? Do they know?" She sounded panicked, almost. Understandably, however. He'd already seen the fear and anger in the group once he told them that her blood came back 'unknown' because if the system or the doctor don't know what's going on, it's a pretty bad situation. And Jenner knew that she knew this as well. But he had to tell them.

He gulped before answering. He had no idea how she would react, what she would say or what she would do. "Yes," he answered bluntly, "They do know. I told them because they wanted to know why you were locked up."

He noticed that her eyes looked slightly more sunken than they should have for someone as young as her. The doctor waited for the information to process and her reaction, but he got none. Isabelle's shoulders simply sank a bit and she kept a blank stare on her face, avoiding his gaze.

"Oh."

The doctor returned to his lab and left her alone. He still had a lot of work to do.

**September 17, 2010**

Nobody will trust me now. With the only person who could have been close to all the answers is dead. Jenner is dead. Jacqui is dead too, she stayed behind.

It was a big cluster fuck. The details are blurry, but I know that Jenner revealed the self-destruct system to the group. Basically, after the generators ran out of fuel, the CDC would have a massive decontamination to destroy all the dangerous diseases contained in the lab.

I remember Rick coming to the room I was in. His composure had been surprisingly off, he was worried. I wasn't used to seeing that side of him and to be honest, I wasn't sure I was ready to. We didn't get a chance to talk; he basically yanked me out of bed and told me to follow. I followed suit after grabbing my gun and bag.

We ran to the entrance, where we met up with the rest of the group. T-Dog and Daryl were using axes on the glass windows to the CDC, then Shane tried shooting it but it didn't work. I wish I could have been more useful, but there was really nothing I could have done. My gun wouldn't have worked, and neither would anything else I had.

Looking back I'm disappointed that all I did was freeze. I wasn't ready to meet my fate. I didn't want to die like that. I couldn't.

I wasn't keeping track of time, but based on how much everyone was starting to really freak out, I could tell we were really pushing it. It was at this moment I was starting to give up, thinking we'd already used up all of our chances.

But, like before, we were lucky.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Carol hand a grenade to Rick, I had no idea where the hell it came from, but it didn't matter.

I'll be honest, I was pessimistic. I wanted to avoid crying, but it was hard not to let my emotions take over. I just remember thinking over and over, _I'm going to die. I'm not going to see my mother or brother again. This is it. I'm so sorry. _

"Look out!" Rick yelled, and I was shoved into the stairs by Daryl.

The explosion nearly burst my ear drums but I immediately, along with the rest of the group, got the hell out of there. My legs ached from being bed ridden, but at that moment it didn't matter.

There were a couple of walkers wandering outside the entrance, but we easily cleared out and made a pathway for the group to follow. I didn't pay attention to the time we had left.

We were lucky.

**September 18, 2010**

Nobody has looked me in the eye lately. I think they've finally realized that they can't get sick from me, but I feel like they're upset I didn't tell them. The question is: how was I supposed to know? I didn't remember getting bit. I never gave the scar any second thought. Hell, I hadn't remembered much of anything else so I can't comprehend why.

But on the other hand, I do see where they're coming from. It doesn't mean that I like it. I feel like they're constantly keeping an eye on me though, waiting for something that isn't going to happen, well, happen.

Rick has been good to me though; he's been understanding. He understands. But I still feel numb. I feel alone. Like an outsider. I don't belong with the group and the group doesn't belong with me.

But like an outsider, I have nowhere else to go.

* * *

><p><strong>I apologize for the short chapter. I wanted to get out of the CDC because I realize that one of my problems is that I can drag storylines out for too long, so I want to move to the farm soon and see where that goes. A very special thanks to all my readers and to those who left feedback. I hope to hear from my readers soon about their thoughts. <strong>


	25. Chapter 25

**September 30, 2010**

Isabelle continued to keep to herself. If she wasn't with the group (which was most of the time), the best guess to her location would have been hunting either alone or with Daryl. Yeah, he wasn't too keen on having a hunting partner but hey, she eventually proved herself.

But just because she was doing well at avoiding the group didn't mean she wasn't the topic of their conversations. Not that they were speaking maliciously behind her back, rather they were quite concerned with where her head was at. They were never frightened of her; hell they never really lacked trust in her either. It's just the whole issue with her being singled out by the doctor at the CDC that made her the topic of a lot of people's conversations. That and her all of a sudden transformation into an introvert had the group either concerned or plain worried.

Now, if only the group knew the whole truth. Sure most of them could overcome the whole blood being unknown, it could have been a simple human error or even a glitch in the CDC's testing, but that seemed unlikely. But if – no, when they would find out that instead she was bitten, it would be a different story, regardless if she couldn't recall it or not. Isabelle would be seen as a liability to the group, she compromised their safety by withholding this information.

And that truly frightened the hell out of her.

* * *

><p>The group continued on the highways leaving Atlanta, following where there was a clear path. Not only did Isabelle grow increasingly paranoid of the group, but they also began to feel the same of her.<p>

"What's been going on with her lately, Rick? You're the closest one to her and she was a hell of a lot more talkative before the CDC. Something happened back there and it's making the whole group worried." Dale asked Rick one night during watch, where most of the group lay asleep in their respective cars. They'd made a pit stop for the night after clearing the area of any walkers.

Rick shook his head confused, "I wish I could give you a good answer. I'm worried too, but I don't want to push her into talking or anything." He hoped that that answer would be good enough for Dale, since he really didn't know more than anyone else in the group.

"I don't know, Rick," Dale didn't want to push either but when it came to the group being worried, he needed an answer, "She's always disappearing at night, the day even, doesn't join us for dinner anymore. Do you think maybe she wants to-"

Rick cut him off, "No. She doesn't want to leave. She's just dealing with a lot." He wondered why the conversation couldn't have just been left at that. What was so hard to understand about that? She was simply going through a lot and most likely just wanted some alone time.

"So is everyone else," Andrea chimed in. She couldn't sleep, and overheard their conversation. "What aren't you telling us?" Before Rick could answer she continued, "Dale's right. Something is off with her, and I really would hate for it to hurt the group."

He grew frustrated, "She wouldn't betray the group if that's what you're getting at. I think- I know it's probably because she's stressed from what happened back at the CDC."

"Again, so is everyone else. You don't see me or anyone else running off in the middle of the night or avoiding everybody. Rick, I lost Amy, my own sister! But I've still tried my hardest to keep it together for the most part, even though there's times where I want to just say 'screw it all' and leave." Andrea was frustrated too, not because she disliked Isabelle, but because she was worried like everybody else. To her, this felt more than just being stressed.

Dale placed his hand on Rick's shoulder, "Nobody is saying she's gonna betray us or anything, we're just worried about her. She just seems off. I mean, I wish I could talk to her but I don't think she's open to anyone." He sighed, "I just hope she comes around soon."

The three turned when leaves rustled across the highway and they drew their weapons. "It's me…" A small voice came out of the bushes, "Sorry about that." It was Isabelle, who had a small backpack on one shoulder and was looking tired. She made her way past the RV to her car and threw her bag inside without saying much.

"I'll be back," Rick said to Andrea and Dale before climbing down the ladder to stop Isabelle before she disappeared again.

He called after her, "Isabelle!" Rick was hoping that he could sit her down and get something out of her. While he didn't want to push her too much and he did believe that she will come around when she wants to, but Dale and Andrea had a point. Her behavior was certainly becoming of concern to him too.

"Yes?" She called over her shoulder while she was shuffling through her bags, she didn't turn to face him. She pulled some food out of her bag and placed it in the footrest in her car, continuing to empty her bag's contents.

"Are you okay? Talk to me. Why are you so distant lately?" Rick wanted to sit somewhere else to have a small and more intimate talk with her, but her stance made it feel that she didn't want to be around him.

She sighed and stood up, dropping her bag in the seat and closing the door behind her. Isabelle turned to face him with her arms crossed and leaned against the door, "Rick, if you think there's something wrong between us, that's not it." She shook her head and looked away, "I'm not mad at you, don't worry. You didn't do anything wrong."

"I know I didn't. I don't think that there's anything wrong between _us_, but I know something is wrong. You haven't been yourself since we left the CDC. Hell, you've said maybe a handful of words to the group, let alone to me." He placed his hands on his hips, "I wanted to give you time because I figured what happened in the CDC took its toll on well, everyone. But now I'm starting to get real worried, is there something I should know?" He was hoping he wasn't overstepping any boundaries, the last thing he wanted was for her to think that he was coming on too strong or just pushing it in general. He didn't want her to push him any further away than she already had been.

She stared off blankly, it appeared that she was too lost in her thoughts. Rick wasn't sure of whether to repeat himself, maybe she did not hear what he'd said? She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, "I know, I'm sorry Rick. I didn't mean to make you worried or anything…it's just…" she shrugged, unsure of how to continue, "what happened back there…" she trailed off, hoping he would drop the subject. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell him ever, it was just the timing and more so _how_ to tell him – and eventually, the rest of the group.

Rick continued for her, "Isabelle, I'm not rushing you. I don't want to make you feel like you're forced to talk to me or anything…"

"Yeah, no I know, I know." How was she supposed to say this? It wasn't like she could just blurt out to Rick that she was in fact bitten before and that she had a better outcome than everyone else. How was one supposed to say this? "Can we talk somewhere else, Rick? I'm nervous…" She trailed off again, feeling paranoid that the others might overhear her.

He stepped in front of her and gently placed her hand on her cheek, "What are you nervous about? Why are you-"

"I'm not." She retorted and pulled his hand off her face, "I just- I just would rather speak in private. I don't need everyone eavesdropping on our conversation.."

Rick couldn't help the smile that crept on his face, "No one's eavesdropping, Isabelle. You're safe talking to me. But we can move somewhere else to talk if that would make you feel better."

She nodded quietly in response and they made their way a couple cars ahead where they were alone. Isabelle was almost shaking from being nervous, never had she been so anxious about sharing something with someone. Well, it wasn't just _some_ secret, it was something that could _definitely _change how the group felt about her, more so than the whole CDC fiasco has.

Rick sat on the trunk of an abandoned truck and motioned her to do the same. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to make her feel more comfortable, but nothing seemed to work for her. "Rick, I don't know…" She hesitated, scared he would be pissed with her if he thought that she was hiding it the whole time, when it was clear in fact the opposite case. Isabelle continued to twiddle with her thumbs, a nervous habit she had, trying to figure out what to say. She scooted away a bit, worried about what she was going to say next.

Finally, the words began to leave her mouth, "Back at the CDC…when I was quarantined for a bit, Jenner noticed the scar on my forearm." Rick examined it, he remembered seeing it before but never gave it a second thought nor did he ever ask her about it. It looked like any other kind of scar someone would get, maybe she hurt herself when she was young or something like that. "And that's when it came back. It all started to make sense, the weirdly vivid nightmares, the night terrors, the headaches, the fucking memory loss too. I can't believe I was so stupid to _not_ make sense of it. This whole time, the message was obvious: I wasn't dreaming of being bitten because it was my fear," she paused to recollect her thoughts, "…no, I was reliving it because it actually fucking _happened._" She kept her head down, not wanting to make eye contact with Rick. She didn't want him to think that she knew this the whole time.

Rick sat forward, one hand on his temple, trying to make sense of what he heard. Had she gone crazy? "You…were bit? But…how? How are you eve-"

"I'm immune, at least that's what it seems like…" She interrupted. "I didn't believe it either. Shit, I didn't even think that was possible." Rick kept quiet, _fuck_, she thought, _he probably thinks I'm full of it._

"Did you know?" He had to ask. Did she hide it from the group because she knew otherwise they wouldn't have kept her along? He wanted to think not, he wanted to think that he knew her better than that.

"No, I didn't, Rick. Of course not. Why do you think I had no idea where that bite even came from? Why do you think I kept having all of those nightmares? I didn't think it was my fucking brain trying to tell me something." She waited for a response, "I really hope you don't think I was hiding this from you. I just learned this too…I've been too scared to tell you."

He was taken aback, "Why? Why would you be scared?"

"I thought you would think that I hid it from you, that I was just some ticking time bomb. I didn't want you to think that. I don't want the group to think that. Can you imagine how that sounds? I was bitten but I _forgot_ and it turns out it can't even kill me!" She sighed, trying to keep it together. What was she to do if and when the group would find out? Would it be better that she left and did her own thing by herself?

Rick pulled her close and tight to his chest, "Is this why you haven't been talking to anyone?"

"I had a feeling that they would piece the puzzle together, Rick." She began to feel ashamed, "I'd been planning my – well, departure. I didn't want to have the group be consistently worried about me or if or _when_ I would turn, I guess…I mean who knows what could happen at this point, we don't have Jenner around anymore."

"You were planning on leaving?"

She bit her lip, "Yes. I was…I'm sorry." She continued, "I didn't want to be a liability to the group. Like, I didn't want them to think I was withholding information for just a free ride or anything…"

"You weren't though, you didn't even know until we all got to the CDC!"

Isabelle shook her head, "That still doesn't make it any better. Rick, if it were anyone else, you wouldn't trust them. You and I both know that. You'd think that they were a liar and you would want to know what else they could be hiding. Don't even _try_ to tell me otherwise! And the rest of the group might not share the same feelings as you if they find out!" She added, the paranoia creeping through her tone. Rick knew she had every right to be worried because she did have a point, neither of them knew how the group could react to the news. He certainly didn't want to hide it from them, but he didn't even know _where _to begin.

"If we find out what?" A voice came from behind one of the cars, the two turned to face Andrea, who had a suspicious look on her face. "What the hell are you hiding, Isabelle?"

Isabelle was furious, she looked at Rick, "Did you know she was listening? "

Rick was confused, but really wasn't surprised. This was the first time Isabelle appeared open to talking, so it made sense for the others to notice. "No I didn't," He assured, then turning to Andrea to address her, "Andrea, she's not hiding anything. This is new for all of us."

"Are you pregnant?" Andrea blurted aloud, wondering if that was the cause of the couple's secrecy. She couldn't really imagine any other scenario at that moment.

Isabelle let out a small laugh, finally something that could actually be worse than the situation they were already in. She shook her head, "No, I'm not pregnant. We weren't talking about that, it's something else…" She crossed her arms, _should I just say it? How is that supposed to even go down? _Finally she let up, "Andrea, look…we were just talking about what happened back at the CDC."

"What was up with that anyways? Why were you singled out?"

"Let me get to that, Andrea." She rubbed the back of her neck before showing Andrea her forearm, "It's a bite." She said, deadpanned.

Andrea looked surprised, "What kind of bite?"

"Walker bite, apparently."

"You were bitten, and you didn't tell anyone? You just hid it from the group, from Rick even? What the hell?" She was pissed. How could someone hide something so big? When Jim was bit, he told the group. He owned up to it, instead of Isabelle who hid it like a coward.

Rick stepped in before Isabelle could reply, "She didn't hide it from anyone, Andrea. She didn't know it was a bite until Jenner pointed it out."

Andrea didn't buy that, "How do you _forget_ being bitten? Isn't it obvious? Why haven't you even…turned yet?" Andrea didn't know whether to be upset, confused, or what. There were too many questions that weren't being answered quickly enough.

Isabelle felt uncomfortable at this point now, she knew that nobody would believe her. She was right all along. And now that Andrea knows, everyone will know. "I don't know, Andrea! I just don't…Jenner might have mentioned something about immunity but we can't ask him now, can we? I just know that I suffered some sort of amnesia from I guess the bite and being knocked over the head when my car was stolen. By the time I came to, it healed and looked like any other bite. I didn't think anything of it until we got to the CDC and that's when the shit hit the fucking fan, alright?" She didn't mean to become so upset but when it started it didn't stop, "So I don't know. That's why I haven't talked to anyone. I know you guys have been wondering about where I'm running off to or what's going on inside my head. Well that's what's been happening! I was fucking bit! Happy?" Her jaw clenched, she had to stop talking now otherwise she was going to say something she was going to regret. Isabelle got her bad temper from her father, and was never really able to control it.

Andrea turned to Rick, "And you knew about this? You brought someone who was bitten to the group? She could have turned and killed someone, Rick!"

He became upset too but tried to keep his cool, "You really think I would do that? You think I knew about this? No one did, Andrea."

"Don't you think I would have turned by now, Andrea? Look at my arm!" She shoved her forearm in Andrea's face, "Does that look like a fresh bite? No! It looks healed! I don't know why my blood didn't have the same results as the rest of you, and we'll never know. But I sure as fuck wouldn't put you or anyone else in the group in danger."

Andrea stared silently before speaking again, "When were you going to tell everyone else?"

"Andrea-" Rick began, but was soon cut off by Isabelle.

"Tell them yourself. They won't believe anything I have to say anyways." Before Andrea or Rick could respond, she made her way off back to her car, hoping that she could get a couple hours of sleep alone. It'd been a long day for her. Fortunately, earlier she'd found some food in some of the abandoned cars that no one else got to. She'd been hiding them in the backseat of her car. While she didn't have a plan _yet_, she still had the means to leave if she needed to.

And boy, was that an entertaining thought for her.

* * *

><p><strong>It's been SOO long, sorry guys, life has been crazy and I've been so busy with work, school, etc. Hard to believe I started this story 3 years ago! I can't promise consistent updates, but I'll try my best. I finally got another outline started that I'll be hoping to follow. Was thinking of getting the farm storyline out of the way in maybe 2-3 chapters then get to the prison where things get really interesting. I am so behind, I know! Hopefully you guys like this and let me know what you think in a review! :)<strong>

**Happy Holidays everyone! **


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